The United Kingdom has made a huge £10 billion deal with Norway to build and supply at least five new warships. These ships will be Type 26 frigates, which are designed to fight enemy submarines. The British Ministry of Defence said this is the country’s biggest ever warship export deal. Norway also called it the largest defence investment in its history.
The ships will be built at BAE Systems shipyards in Glasgow, Scotland. The project will support about 4,000 jobs in the UK, including more than 2,000 in Glasgow. Over 400 other British businesses, including 103 in Scotland, will also benefit from the deal.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the agreement will help the UK economy grow and also protect national security. Defence Minister Luke Pollard described it as the “biggest British warship deal in history” and a strong vote of confidence in British workers.
Not everyone in Norway supports the choice. Some experts there said that French and German frigates were better than the British design, but Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said the UK was the best partner for the future.
The deal means Britain and Norway will have a combined fleet of 13 anti-submarine frigates working together in northern Europe. This will strengthen NATO’s ability to protect against Russian submarines in the North Atlantic. Deliveries of the new ships are expected to start around 2029–2030.
The UK is already building eight Type 26 frigates for its own navy, and it has also sold the design to Canada and Australia. With this new order from Norway, the UK’s shipbuilding industry will stay busy well into the 2030s.
-Peace News Desk