BAE Systems: Production begins on Successor programme

BAE Systems welcomed the Right Honourable Sir Michael Fallon MP, Secretary of State for Defence to Barrow-in-Furness shipyard to press a button, commencing the first metal-cut for the Successor programme. The Secretary of State's visit follows a recent UK Government commitment of £1.3 billion funding for the Successor Submarine programme on 1 October.

The next generation of nuclear deterrent submarine is widely considered to be one of the world's most complex engineering challenges. Technological advances, threat changes, and new methods of design and production, mean the Successor submarines will be a completely new design.

The £1.3 billion investment will cover initial manufacturing work on the first of the submarines. This funding will also enable the ongoing redevelopment of the facilities and infrastructure required to build the submarines at BAE Systems’ site in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.

The continued redevelopment of our Barrow-in-Furness site will ensure we have the capacity needed to deliver the submarines ready to enter service in the early 2030s.

Tony Johns, Managing Director of BAE Systems Maritime Submarines, said "This additional financial investment by the MoD is an expression of confidence in our ability to build these sophisticated vessels. We have been designing the new class of submarine for more than five years and thanks to the maturity of our design, we're now in a position to start production on the date we set back in 2011. This is a terrific achievement and I pay tribute to all those who have made this possible.”

The Successor programme already employs more than 2,600 people across MoD and industry, including 1,800 at BAE Systems. Thousands more will be employed in the supply chain with an average of 7,800 people expected to be working on Successor each year throughout the duration of the programme. At peak, in the early 2020s, BAE Systems anticipates employing more than 5,000 people on the Successor programme.

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