Steady state: reality check for UK procurement plans

摘要

The Royal Navy is developing plans to recapitalise a substantial part of its surface fleet at a time when pressure for resources weighs increasingly heavy. Richard Scott looks at the strategy now taking shape to deliver new frigates and introduce a radically different mine-countermeasures capability in an era of tightening budgetsrnWith the Type 45 destroyer build programme now well advanced, and the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers fast transitioning from design to manufacture, the UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD's) Above Water Capability branch - working in close concert with other MoD stakeholders, the Royal Navy (RN) and industry - is now shaping its strategy for the phased recapitalisation of the RN's frigate and mine-countermeasures (MCM) forces over the next 10-15 years.