UK’s Type 32 frigate programme confirmed alive but embryonic
The UK’s frigate programme, often described as the “backbone of the nation’s naval defence”, advanced in early October 2024 with the beginning of steel cutting on the third Type 31 vessel, HMS Formidable. Two more Type 31 vessels have been scheduled to launch by 2027.
The fate of the next generation of Royal Navy frigates got an unexpected shot in the arm shortly afterwards, however, as Luke Pollard, parliamentary under-secretary at the UK Ministry of Defence, appeared to confirm in a written response to a parliamentary question that the Type 32 frigate programme was still on the books for future design
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