SMEs are poised for involvement in Rolls-Royce’s GBP9bn contract to deliver Dreadnought-class SSBNs for the Royal Navy.

Rolls-Royce Submarines’ largest-ever UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) contract has caused a ripple across the domestic naval sector.

The eight-year ‘Unity’ contract, worth approximately GBP9 billion, will see Rolls-Royce maintain the Royal Navy’s submarine fleet and build four new Dreadnought-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs).

“Unity provides Rolls-Royce with the contractual security to plan and develop the existing and future supply chain”, a Rolls-Royce official told DSEI. “It’s an opportunity for us to work differently with suppliers”.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be closely monitoring the possibility of trickle-down funding, although Rolls-Royce is yet to make any concrete promises regarding subcontracts. 

“[Unity] is an opportunity to develop better longstanding partnerships and strategic relationships across all the naval nuclear propulsion programmes we support”, the Rolls-Royce official responded when asked by DSEI about SME involvement in the GBP9 billion deal.

With 92% of Rolls-Royce’s supply chain based in the UK, smaller domestic companies are likely to be at the front of the queue should subcontracts be made available. When the Dreadnought-class SSBNs  enter service in the early 2030s, the boats will replace the Royal Navy’s current Vanguard-class, which has suffered setbacks over the past decade, namely two failed firing tests of the UK’s Trident 2 D5 nuclear missile.

Speaking at Rolls-Royce’s nuclear reactor production facility in Derby on 24 January, UK Secretary of State for Defence John Healey described the ‘Unity’ deal as “a clear demonstration of our commitment to the UK’s nuclear deterrent, which is our ultimate insurance policy in a more dangerous world”. 

‘Unity’ forms part of the UK government’s commitment to what it describes as a “triple-lock” on the nuclear deterrent.