The UK Ministry of Defence has announced more than £2 billion of further funding for the Dreadnought nuclear deterrent submarines, which are under construction at BAE Systems’ shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness.

The funding is to enable the third major phase of the programme, Delivery Phase 3, the most significant stage so far in terms of criticality, value and complexity.

The investment marks the latest financial commitment between the Ministry of Defence, BAE Systems and Rolls Royce. It is the initial investment within a planned total of nearly £10 billion for the whole of third delivery phase.

Dreadnought is one of the world’s most complex engineering programmes. More than £1 billion has been invested in advanced technology and upgraded infrastructure at BAE Systems’ Barrow shipyard to enable it to deliver Dreadnought, with £450 million of further investment to be made over the life of the programme.

The Dreadnought programme supports almost 30,000 jobs across the UK, with more than half of these estimated to be based in the North West of England, and a supply chain spend of £7.5 billion across 1,500 UK companies. In addition, BAE Systems currently has more than 1,000 employees in training on its early careers schemes within its Submarines business and is set recruit a further 340 apprentices and 90 graduates into the business this year.

“The Dreadnought Class will be crucial to maintaining and safeguarding our national security, with the nuclear deterrent protecting every UK citizen from the most extreme threats, every minute of every day. Designed in the UK, built in the UK and supporting tens of thousands of jobs in the UK, the Dreadnought programme is a leading example of our commitment to defence manufacturing and will continue to boost British industry for decades to come,” said UK Defence Procurement Minister, Jeremy Quin.

“We take great pride in designing and delivering one of the world’s most advanced engineering programmes and helping to protect national security. Today’s funding announcement allows us to maintain the Dreadnought programme’s progress and continue investing in the infrastructure and skills needed to deliver these highly complex submarines to the Royal Navy,” declared Steve Timms, Managing Director, BAE Systems Submarines.

This phase of the programme will see the first of four submarines, HMS Dreadnought, exit the BAE Systems’ shipyard to begin sea trials, laying the foundation to sustain the Continuous at Sea Deterrent for as long as the international security situation makes it necessary. It will also allow learning from this phase to be applied to the build and test of later boats.

The contracts with Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems will contribute significantly to the UK Government’s levelling-up ambitions and will support the training and development of the men and women of the Royal Navy who will take to the water in HMS Dreadnought when she enters service in the early 2030s.

Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce Submarines Ltd announced it will launch a new skills academy dedicated to nuclear training, alongside 200 additional nuclear apprenticeships starting in September 2022.

As part of its drive to boost nuclear capability in the UK and to create a pipeline for nurturing talent right at the start of their careers, Rolls-Royce Submarines has committed to 200 new apprenticeships every year for at least the next ten years.

Based in Derby, the new Nuclear Skills Academy will be supported by industry and education experts, including the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, the National College for Nuclear, the University of Derby and Derby City Council. This ensures new apprentices will have access to the best courses and mentors throughout their apprenticeship.

Steve Carlier, President - Submarines, Rolls-Royce, said: “We are proud of our unique nuclear capability and we are fortunate enough to have some of the smartest minds on the planet working for us. But we must maintain this capability if we want to continue to innovate and evolve.”

The new apprenticeships will be spread across four courses: Nuclear Engineering Degree Apprenticeship, Business Degree Apprenticeship, Nuclear Engineering Technician Apprenticeship and Advanced Engineering Apprenticeship.