Cost Estimate Rises for New U.K. Missile Submarine

18 May 2011 By ANDREW CHUTER DefenseNews

LONDON - Britain will use a new nuclear reactor design to power the Royal Navy's next generation of ballistic missile submarines, said government officials, who also announced the launch of the assessment phase of the Successor program. Figures released by the Ministry of Defence on May 18 show that the overall cost of the program to build three or four submarines to replace the existing Vanguard class of boats starting in 2028 could be as much as 25 billion pounds ($40.4 billion). Unlike previous estimates, which have been given in 2006-07 pounds, the new figure is the out-turn price: the predicted sum of spending in current units. Defence Secretary Liam Fox said the nuclear submarines will incorporate a new power plant known as Pressurised Water Reactor 3. The new reactor offers better safety and more through-life efficiencies, although at a higher initial cost: about 50 million pounds per submarine, said a report released May 18 updating Parliament on the program. A recent government report on the PWR2 pressurized water reactor design, used on the new Astute-class nuclear hunter-killer submarines and the Vanguards said that reactor had potential safety shortcomings, though it meets the current required standards. At the same time as the green light for Successor was given, the Conservative-led coalition government announced the Cabinet Office had launched a study to look at alternative ways of maintaining a "feasible and credible" nuclear deterrent. The study is a sop to its Liberal coalition partners, who have been campaigning for a cheaper option to the submarines. The report to parliament said the MoD would spend 3 billion pounds on design work and order long-lead production items for the first three submarines. A decision on whether to build a fourth boat will be delayed until the main-development-and-manufacture phase, scheduled to begin in 2016. The British government has already spent 900 million pounds on early design work, including a joint program with the U.S. to develop a common missile compartment for new ballistic missile boats. The report to Parliament said that the British and U.S. design team for the missile compartment is considering how best to incorporate its work into the recent British decision to cut the number of operational missiles to eight on each sub. The compartment design is based on a 12-tube unit. Britain also is expected to collaborate with France on some aspects of technology for the new nuclear submarines, as part of a wider defense treaty recently signed by the two governments. For the first time, the MoD has detailed the likely true cost of the program to replace the four Vanguard class boats. Previously, the U.K. government has given an estimate of between 11 billion and 14 billion pounds at 2006-07 prices for the platforms, and between 15 billion and 20 billion pounds for the program as a whole, including things like infrastructure improvements. The new figure of 25 billion pounds is based on outturn prices. Originally, the first of the new submarines was to have been delivered from the BAE Systems shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness in 2024, but that has been delayed until 2028. Fox said the Vanguard replacement is a "program of great national importance, which will also secure the future of one of Britain's major manufacturing sectors."