Britische Fregatte Typ 26 gewinnt den norwegischen Fregattenwettbewerb

Really excellent news. An extra 5 Type 26 frigates in the Norwegian Sea will make a huge difference to European ability to lock Russian submarines out of the Atlantic. The Royal Navy will probably be handing over hull 4 to the Norwegians, and then alternating deliveries to each navy after that. I believe that Norway will be adopting the UK fit of combat management systems, weapons and sensors so that should help reduce costs for the UK too (and stop the kind blossoming costs that the Canadians and Australians have gone through by changing the design)

Type 26 is turning out to be a very successful design; this will make 26 non-UK hulls once all are built.

The downside to the deal is that the UK is already cripplingly short of frigates, and we’re now handing 3 over to the Norwegians. Well still get 8 of course, but later than otherwise. This is a great deal overall and will eventually lead to a net positive but it will probably also extend the period of pain for the Royal Navy by delaying the introduction to service of 3 ships it sorely needs…unless we manage to make sufficient money from the sale price and associated savings (given we’ll be ordering in more volume than we otherwise would) to afford a few more Type 31s

Very good. I was hoping for stronger cooperation with the British. Hopefully next time we can build our own frigates.

Not loving having non-european tech in those frigates. We should be developing and deploying own tech. In the future we’re steering towards, autonomy is king and strategic dependencies something to be avoided where possible.