BAE to spend £7.5bn in Dreadnought submarine supply chain

The Dreadnought submarine programme, which is being manufactured by BAE Systems, supports tens of thousands of jobs in the UK.

This is according to new research revealed by BAE Systems. The defence giant has for the first time revealed the significant contribution the Dreadnought submarine programme makes to the UK economy, supporting almost 30,000 jobs across the country.

While nearly half of these jobs are in the North West of England, the supply chain for Dreadnought extends to every region of the UK.

Working with partners Rolls-Royce and the Submarine Delivery Agency as part of the Dreadnought Alliance, BAE Systems estimates it will spend in the region of £7.5 billion with 1,500 supply chain companies over the life of the programme across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Dreadnought class boats will be the Royal Navy’s biggest, most powerful and most technically advanced submarines when they begin to enter service from the early 2030s and will play a pivotal role in the nation’s defence and security for decades to come.

Work on the first two boats in the class is well underway at the company’s shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.

The research, which highlights the scale and influence the programme has on the UK’s industrial base and its contribution to the country’s economic prosperity, comes as the government has reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining the UK’s Continuous At Sea Deterrent. This means a Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarine patrols the world's oceans 365 days a year carrying the Trident missile system, the UK's nuclear deterrent.


Key research findings


£2.5 billion worth of contracts have already been placed with suppliers across the UK, including:

  • North West - £400m spent to date, including on power systems and sensors, supporting 13,500 jobs;

  • Yorkshire and Humber - £350m spent to date, including on gear boxes and steel, supporting 2,500 jobs;

  • South East - £235m spent to date, including on electrical systems, antenna systems and control panels, supporting 2,500 jobs;

  • Scotland - £215m spent to date, including on periscopes, supporting 2,000 jobs.


Of the 30,000 jobs which are sustained by the Dreadnought programme, nearly 8,000 are directly employed by BAE Systems, with 11,800 jobs in the programme’s supply chain and a further 10,200 supported across the country.

Dreadnought will have a sustained and lasting impact on UK employment, supporting thousands of jobs reaching all UK regions to at least 2035.

Alongside Submarines colleagues, engineers at the Company’s Electronic Systems business in Rochester are taking decades of flight controls expertise underwater, adapting systems which are usually used in fly-by-wire aircraft and applying them to Dreadnought.

The Active Vehicle Control Management system will oversee all major aspects of the submarines’ manoeuvring capability, controlling the heading, pitch, depth and buoyancy of the Dreadnought class among other critical elements.

Steve Timms, managing director, BAE Systems Submarines, commented: “The manufacture of the four boat fleet, each designed to remain undetected for months at sea, is one of the largest and most complex engineering projects in the world. It is estimated that it will take in the region of 150 million work hours to design and manufacture the four Dreadnought class submarines.

“The business continues to invest in and develop its employees and recruit new talent to for this complex programme, with engineers from across 40 disciplines and specialisms needed to support the delivery of Dreadnought. More than 600 apprentices and 50 graduates are currently in training in the submarines business and over the next five years, a further 200 graduates and 1,500 apprentices will be recruited.”

BAE Systems www.baesystems.com

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BAE Systems

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