Type 31 frigate

The resultant General Purpose Frigate (GPFF) was a new class intended to be a lighter, flexible and more affordable general purpose frigate.[13][14] According to the 2015 defence review, the lower cost of these frigates could lead to the Royal Navy acquiring more than five of them, thus increasing its overall numbers of frigates and destroyers.[15] During a defence and security lecture in July 2016, GPFF was referred to as the Type 31 frigate by the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones.[16] Admiral Jones further stated that Type 31 frigates could permanently operate East of Suez; from the Persian Gulf region to the Asia-Pacific.[16] During the same month, BAE Systems revealed two general purpose frigate designs, namely the Avenger class which was based on the "Amazonas-class/River-class Batch 2 offshore patrol vessel" and the Cutlass class that was described as a "significantly stretched and enhanced derivation of the Al Shamikh-class corvette design".[17] An August news article in The Sunday Times stated that Babcock International and BMT also submitted one design each.[18][19]

In October 2017 The Financial Times stated that "..officials inside the Ministry of Defence, the Treasury and Royal Navy have long resented the obligation, set a decade ago, to maintain skills and shipbuilding capacity at BAE’s shipyards on the Clyde regardless of naval needs." It quoted Francis Tusa, a defence analyst, who argued that the competition appeared to be designed to break BAE's hold on naval shipbuilding; “Were they to have bid as BAE Systems, they wouldn’t win. That is absolutely obvious. The fact is that the Type 31 is slanted probably to exclude any bid that includes BAE.”[20] However this was denied by the MoD which stated that the competition is designed to improve speed of delivery and reduce cost.[20]

In order to maintain national shipbuilding capacity, the 2017 national shipbuilding strategy proposes ordering an initial batch of five Type 31e Frigates with an initial in-service date in 2023, intended for export with their cost limited to a maximum £250m each, to be followed by a second batch order of Type 31 for the Royal Navy.[21] The Type 31 is projected to be built in modular form as with the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers at several commercial shipyards, and assembled in one central yard.[22]

Throughout 2017 several designs from different companies were suggested as contenders for the Type 31. BAE submitted two designs, "Avenger", essentially an improved Batch 3 River-class OPV,[23] and "Cutlass", a significantly stretched and enhanced derivation of the Al Shamikh-class corvette.[24] BMT submitted a design called "Venator 110",[25] with Steller Systems putting forward project "Spartan"[26] and Babcock offered a design named "Arrowhead 120".[27]

In October 2017, BAE Systems announced its intention to withdraw from the Type 31e competition as a main contractor, citing the capacity constraints of its shipyards on the Clyde, which were full with the work on the new River-class patrol vessels and Type 26 frigates. Instead, BAE announced a partnership with Cammell Laird, whereby BAE would provide its expertise in design and systems integration, while Cammell Laird would be the prime contractor and be responsible for the assembly of the ships at its yard at Birkenhead.[28] The planned design has been named "Leander", a reference to three previous classes of ship in the Royal Navy.[29]

In November 2017, it was announced that BMT and Babcock signed a co-operation agreement for the Type 31. They did not choose between their respective "Venator 110" or "Arrowhead 120" designs, but instead would explore their designs to determine the best possible option.[30] In late May 2018, Babcock, partnered with BMT and Thales Group announced the "Arrowhead 140" design, based on the hull of the Danish Iver Huitfeldt-class frigates.[31]

The competition was suspended on 20 July 2018 due to ‘insufficient compliant bids’ being received, however The Times claimed this was due to a "funding crisis".[32] However the competition was restarted in August 2018.[33]

On 10 December 2018, three groups were selected for the competitive design phase:

• BAE Systems/Cammell Laird with their planned Leander design
• Babcock/BMT/Thales with their Arrowhead 140 design
• Atlas Elektronik UK/Thyssenkrup Marine Systems, which was likely to be based on the MEKO A-200 design

Both the BAE Systems and Babcock led entrants had already been put forward when the competition was temporarily suspended. The third bid, led by Atlas Elektronik UK, was likely to use the MEKO A-200 platform as its basis, currently in use with the Algerian and South African Navies. Both the Babcock and Atlas proposals included Ferguson Marine on the Clyde and Harland & Wolff in Belfast.[34] By August 2019 both Ferguson Marine and Harland & Wolff had announced that they were in financial difficulties.[35][36]

• 
  The 'Leander' concept by BAE for the Type 31e frigate class. It is based heavily on the Khareef-class corvettes for the Omani Navy built by BAE in the early 2010s.
• 
  The 'Arrowhead 140' concept by Babcock and BMT for the Type 31e frigate class. It is based heavily on the Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate for the Royal Danish Navy, previously built by Odense Shipyard in 2008.
• 
  SAS Spioenkop, a MEKO A-200 similar to the proposed Atlas Elektronik design

It was announced on 12 September 2019 that the Arrowhead 140 design had been selected for the Type 31 Frigate.[37] A contract was formally awarded to Babcock Group on 15 November 2019, for an average production cost of £250 million per ship and an overall program cost set to be £2 billion with £1.25 billion value to prime contractor Babcock.[38]

On 20 January 2020, the Public Accounts Committee was informed by the Permanent Secretary for Defence that the first ship will be in the water by 2023 but the in-service date will be in 2027.[39] This is in contrast to earlier statements that the in-service date would be in 2023.[40]