Source: Defense News
By David B. Larter and Andrew Chuter
Britain’s Ministry of Defence unveiled Monday its top three contenders for the planned Type 31e frigate, a scaled-down frigate that it wants to be able to both export and buy in numbers to eventually grow the size of the fleet.
The MoD announced contract awards to BAE Systems, Babcock and Atlas Elektronik UK, each worth up to £5 million (U.S. $6 million) to push ahead with the next phase of the competition, according to an MoD release.
The U.K. plans to initially build five of the frigates, with a top-line budget of £1.25 billion for the whole program.
“This is the first frigate competition the UK has run in a generation, and today we are funding three shipbuilding teams with extremely exciting concepts to continue developing their plans,” Britain’s defense acquisition minister, Stuart Andrew, said in the release. “Next year we will announce the winning bidder, and one of these designs will go on to bolster our future fleet with five new ships, creating UK jobs and ensuring our Royal Navy maintains a truly global presence in an increasingly uncertain world.”
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