Only some comments:
I'm sorry but they will. After SV SD Attenborough, they start cutting their labour force, even though they won two big bids, T45 diesel-gen mod and RFA support. If they think they are competitive, they must rather increase the labor force (say, propose the labor of Appledore and Rothys to join). After the 5MGBP cheap Isle of White ferry, I understand they have nothing more to build?Ron5 wrote:Cammell Laird does not agree with you.donald_of_tokyo wrote:It is clear British ship building industry is inefficient, so "comparable to" is a big challenge.
Agreed With 1.5B GBP prepared for T31e, Clyde can build 2 more T26. With efficiency improvements (including Frigate Factory), MOD will still have ~200M GBP for anything other.Throw away the NSS which isn't a strategy but merely a thinly veiled excuse for building cheap frigates. In particular, throw away the absurd idea that there is enough warship building capacity in the UK to sustain meaningful competition.
Develop a proper long term strategy around creating and investing in single site surface warship shipbuilding. Just like the massive investment made at Barrow in order to produce excellent submarines at excellent prices. Enable a world class efficient frigate factory. Create a long term build plan, commit to it and invest and make orders accordingly i.e. if 8 T26 are to be acquired, order 8 so that the shipyard & Treasury can invest in creating modern infrastructure.
#My personal favorite is 1 more T26 and 3-4 more Floreal-like, but its small difference. (*1)
Other than adding Germany and France, I agree to your point (focus your "enemy"). But this also means, CL, H&W, A&P and Babcock can only expect UK MOD order if they cannot win export orders (with not TAX-refund calculation etc.).By all means open up international competition for RFA and other non-complex warships that commercial yards can reasonable be expected to successfully build. But add value to any UK bids commensurate with the taxes the shipbuilders & workers will pay back to the Treasury and add value for the social benefits of maintaining employment in the UK. Develop a black list of countries who will not be invited to bid. Start the black list with Russia, China and North Korea. Add Germany, Spain & France based on their actions toward the UK. Then decide a winner.
Disagree here. Investing only AFTER getting firm order, means not competitive. All industries are investing at their own risk, and only with those investments, they win the bid. See what Apple computer, Toyota, BMW, Runault/Nissan, or even a Burger king is doing. They don't build their shops AFTER they got their order... Industry can only base their investments on signed and sealed orders not subject to capricious delays and cancellation. Who doesn't believe that one or more of the carriers would have been cancelled if they had not been tied up with bullet proof contracts?
But, to do that, they need good "foresight" = be competitive enough. With current HMG attitude of "not adding TAX-refund" value to UK bid, it is clear the UK ship building industry is NOT investing on their own. Actually, they are clearly retreating (Appledore, Carmell Laird, Rothys). My proposal (based on yours) will be, change the policy to include TAX-refund (of course also for international contenders = fair ), and see how those shipyards (re-)start investments.
*1: For me, CL, Babcock, and H&W are much better at building OPV-standard and civilian-standard hulls. So, if T31e project task is "job generation", MOD must order a ship like Floreal-class. Skills to build frigate-standard hull is totally impossible to support for long by MOD = waste of money. Building "OPV-standard and civilian-standard hulls" cheap and "to build frigate-standard hull" are different skills.
Damen 10514 "light frigate" is based on OPV-standard hull. In other words, this is the standard in export market. So, this strategy is also good for export. Not making Leander in Frigate standard, but in OPV-standard, with modest armaments (no CAMM but Mk.8 gun and 1 or 2 CIWS, for example) and cheaper cost. Three Al Khareef corvettes were built with 400M GBP in UK only 10 years ago. Of course now we may need 600-800M GBP (including all the initial cost), but this also means, RN can get "one full-fat T26ASW" and "3 OPV-standard Sloop" as Floreal-like.