Announcement The ship was first announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 19 November 2020 as part of a defence investment pledge ahead of the
Integrated Review. In addition to the long-known Type 26 and Type 31 frigates, the Prime Minister announced a new Type 32 frigate would be built. Like the Type 31 frigate, the ship will be general-purpose in its design. In March 2021, the government's defence
command paper,
Defence in a Competitive Age, elaborated further on the Type 32 frigate stating that it would be designed to protect territorial waters, to provide persistent presence and to support the Royal Navy's new
Littoral Response Groups (LRGs). The document also stated that, along with the Type 31, the frigates would be more flexible than their predecessors, with a
modular design, and equipped with advanced sensors and weapons. According to the document, the ships are likely to be built at Scottish shipyards, like the Type 26 and Type 31. The revised National Shipbuilding Strategy, released in March 2022, suggested that the Type 32 frigates were likely to be "the first of a new generation of warships with a focus on hosting and operating autonomous onboard systems". Earlier comments by the Minister for Defence Procurement, Jeremy Quin, also suggested that the new Type 32 frigate will carry autonomous systems, adding to the Royal Navy's capabilities for missions such as anti-submarine warfare and mine countermeasures. Whilst the Type 32 is still in the concept phase, a number of designs have already been put forward to meet some of the suggested roles the vessels may undertake, especially in regard to operating offboard systems: Described as mixture of a frigate and a cargo ship, the design has the aesthetic characteristics of the
Type 26 frigate on the forward half of the vessel with
gunnery systems (
BAE/Bofors 57Mk3 and
40MK4),
vertical launch systems (
CAMM Mushroom Farms and
Mark-41),
laser directed energy weapon mounts (
Dragonfire) and sensors; the aft half has a full-width space above deck for containers (Including mission modules), four large boat bays, hangar, UAV kennel,
Chinook-capable flight deck and a large under-flight deck mission bay with a large stern ramp capable of deploying two 11 metre craft flanked by two small davits. The design is capable of holding 20 ×
twenty foot equivalent containers (TEU) and can manoeuvre such containers around the ship using SH Defence's CUBE system. The design features a stern boat ramp connected to the existing mission bay under the flight deck, a side hydraulic ramp, an enlarged hangar with capacity for up-to two
Merlin AW101-sized helicopters which is directly connected to a full-width mission bay replacing the 32-cell vertical launch complex amidships and is capable of supporting 11-metre craft (e.g.
USV,
RHIBs) or TEU containers. Additionally, the B turret position forward of the bridge can be replaced with a 16-cell Mark-41 complex. By utilising the existing Arrowhead 140 design, commonality can be sought with the Type 31's to streamline training, upgrades, and upkeep.
Funding issues In November 2022, the
National Audit Office (NAO) reported that plans for the Type 32 frigate had been withdrawn by Navy Command due to concerns about unaffordability. Despite this, the MoD stated that the ships remained a key part of the future fleet. In January 2023,
Defence Secretary of the United Kingdom Ben Wallace reported that the Type 32 frigate was still planned for implementation after "2030 or 2031", with further planning considerations to be addressed "between now and towards the centre of the decade." In 2023, the NAO's report on the MoD's Equipment Plan for 2023-2033 highlighted that new Royal Navy shipbuilding projects including the Type 32 frigate,
Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance ships,
Multi-Role Support Ships,
Type 83 destroyers and associated
Future Air Dominance System were £5.9 billion over existing budget. ==See also==