UK plans up to 12 SSN-AUKUS attack submarines

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will announce on Monday his government’s intention to build ‘upto 12 attack submarines,’ as it publishes a long-awaited Strategic Defence Review (SDR).

A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said Starmer will announce ‘the UK’s conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine fleet will be significantly expanded, with up to 12 new SSN-AUKUS boats to be built.’

“The increase in submarines will transform the UK’s submarine building industry and, following the £15 billion investment in the warhead programme outlined, will deliver on this government’s Plan for Change, supporting 30,000 highly skilled jobs up-and-down the country well into the 2030s, as well as helping work to deliver 30,000 apprenticeships and 14,000 graduate roles across the next ten years,” it said.

The Royal Navy currently operates five nuclear-powered Astute-class SSN submarines, with the sixth in class, Agamemnon, expected to be commissioned later this year and seventh, Achilles, understood to enter service at the end of 2026. The Royal Australian Navy operates six diesel-electric Collins-class submarines. The SSN-AUKUS class is planned to succeed the Astute and Collins class of submarines in the two navies. The Royal Australian Navy plans to acquire five SSN-AUKUS submarines, in addition to three U.S. nuclear-powered Virginia-class SSN attack submarines.

The PMO’s statement also said it plans to secure the future of the ‘Royal Navy’s Continuous At Sea Nuclear Deterrent’ with its upcoming emphasis on the UK’s ‘sovereign nuclear warhead programme,’ saying the £15 billion investment and support for over 9,000 jobs is the ‘first time the UK has outlined the full scale of its investment plans in its warhead programmes and is further evidence of the Government’s triple lock commitment to the nuclear deterrent: to maintain our continuous at-sea deterrent; to build the new fleet of Dreadnought submarines; and to deliver all future upgrades necessary.’

The British government is planning ‘significant modernisation of infrastructure at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston.’

Defence Secretary John Healey MP said in the statement, “Currently the UK is set to operate 7 Astute Class attack submarines, which will be replaced with an increased fleet of up to 12 SSN-AUKUS submarines from the late 2030s. The boost to the SSN-AUKUS programme will see a major expansion of industrial capability at Barrow and Raynesway, Derby, with the build of a new submarine every 18 months in the future. The increase in capacity at the two sites will allow the UK to increase its fleet to up to 12 attack boats, as part of the AUKUS partnership.”

Healey also noted the government’s plans to increase ‘defence spending to 2.5% of GDP from 2027,’ with an ‘ambition to hit 3% in the next parliament, when economic and fiscal conditionals allow.’ 

The announcement comes as the British government is expected to publish its new Strategic Defence Review on Monday, which ‘makes 62 recommendations, which the government is expected to accept in full,’ according to the PMO.

A defence ministry statement on Sunday on the SDR said, “The UK will build at least six new munitions and energetics factories and thousands more long-range weapons to strengthen Britain’s Armed Forces and create new jobs across the country,” noting a ‘new £1.5 billion government investment in munitions and energetics factories,’ with the SDR recommending the creation of an ‘always on’ munitions production capacity in the UK allowing production to be scaled up at speed if needed,’ in addition to laying ‘the industrial foundations for an uplift in munitions stockpiles to meet the demand of high-tempo warfare.’