The Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that we will greatly expand the Royal Navy’s fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines armed with conventional weapons by constructing up to 12 new SSN-AUKUS submarines.
This expansion of the AUKUS SSN fleet will be made possible by a massive investment of 15 billion pounds (approximately 17.76 billion euros) aimed at renewing Britain’s military nuclear supply chain.
This investment will support 30,000 highly-qualified jobs across the UK until 2030, and contribute to the creation of 30,000 apprenticeships and 14,000 roles for graduated workers over the next decade.
The timeline expects that by the end of the 1930s, BAE Systems will deliver the first manufactured SSN-AUKUS to the Royal Navy.
The AUKUS SSN programme involves the construction of a new nuclear-powered attack submarine to meet the needs of the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy.
The British, Australian, and United States industries are participating in the programme; the latter brings innovative technologies designed for the new versions of the Virginia-class SSNs.
For Australia, the programme expects that the first locally-built SSN-AUKUS will be delivered to the Royal Australian Navy in the early 1940s. It involves developing from scratch a shipyard capable of building nuclear-powered submarines, a significant step given that Australia does not have nuclear power plants for civil energy production.
Source and image credit to the UK Ministry of Defence (UK MoD)
