AUKUS
In March, the Australian Government announced that we had been selected to partner with ASC Pty Ltd to deliver Australia’s SSN-AUKUS Programme, which includes the build of nuclear powered submarines in Australia as part of the AUKUS trilateral security pact between the US, the UK and Australia. SSN-AUKUS will be a state-of-the-art conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) designed to leverage the best of submarine technology from all three nations and dominate the undersea battlespace. This will build upon the UK’s next-generation SSN design and is expected to combine the strengths and innovations of each AUKUS partner into a highly capable platform. In November, we entered into a mobilisation arrangement together with ASC SSN-AUKUS Pty Ltd and the Australian Submarine Agency to work together to develop detailed plans, schedules and workforce initiatives for the Australian build programme of the SSN‑AUKUS submarines. These arrangements follow on from the £3.95bn we secured from the UK Ministry of Defence in 2023 to progress the detailed design of the SSN-AUKUS submarines, as well as to procure long-lead items and make significant infrastructure investments at our Barrow-in-Furness, UK, site to support the programme.
Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP)
In December, we reached an agreement with our international partners, Leonardo SpA and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co Ltd (JAIEC), to form a new joint venture company for GCAP, subject to regulatory approvals. Each partner will hold a one-third shareholding in the new joint venture, which will be accountable for the design, development and delivery of the next-generation combat aircraft and will remain the design authority for GCAP for the life of the product, expected to go out beyond 2070. The agreement builds on the strong trilateral government, defence and industrial cooperation between the UK, Japan and Italy on GCAP since it was established in December 2022.