Agreed. I don't view the T31 as an export success, for the reasons that have commented on several times in this thread.However you summed it up more succintly than I did - "build export" would have kept Rosyth shipyard busy and the more ships that Babcock build, the quicker /better they should be at construction, thus keeping overall build costs down.donald_of_tokyo wrote: ↑20 Aug 2023, 11:30Partly agree. If you look at the original NSS, it quotes “build export”, not design export, to keep the UK shipyards working. And, to that end, the only build export is the missile boat for Ukrainian navy (but it has been silent for a year or two, so I’m afraid it may vanish).Repulse wrote: ↑20 Aug 2023, 09:33 It is interesting to look back on the T31e RFI.
- Exports and the National Ship Building strategy is as prominent as RN requirements. If all that has been discussed come true then it has been a success. You could argue that other designs could have done the same and the T26 has been a bigger export success than expected, but credit where credit is due. Giving the RN stamp of approval for the design was key, however this is now done and is not a justification in itself to buy more.
So, almost zero success on that regards. Very difficult status now UK ship builders are.
I was hoping for T31 for NZ, to be built in UK. But recent roumor of Australian built T31 possibility will kill that hope…
Then, what hope? Ukraine T31?
"Design export" would obviously benefit Babcock UK and any future ongoing consultancy / maintenance contracts they won would have helped them too, but neither benefits the RN. There might be some additional work to wider UK supply chain if some components are needed for Polish and Indonesian builds.
Anyway I guess given the rut that British shipbuilding was in (e.g. the Tide-class tankers being built in Korea with no percentage of local UK build), it was probably too much to expect more than baby steps at starting to restablish our international reputation. Hopefully this is a start upon which they can build further on in the future.