A new office for specialists which will help deliver the Aukus nuclear submarine programme has been opened in Glasgow, with a minister saying it will play a “critical” role.
Defence procurement minister Maria Eagle also said the UK Government does not foresee any capability gaps as it retires older Royal Navy vessels.
The Rolls-Royce Submarines office will support the programme to build the Dreadnought class of submarines, which will replace the Vanguard vessels which carry the UK’s Trident nuclear deterrent.
The company says it will create more than 100 skilled jobs, mainly in designing electrical components for the vessels.
Aukus is the name of the trilateral agreement between Australia, the UK and the US to create a joint nuclear submarine project.
It's really brilliant that Glasgow is getting a slice of this. What better place, with the history of shipbuilding and marine engineering that there is here
Rolls-Royce Submarines is expected to provide all the nuclear reactor plants for the attack submarines, which will enter service in the late 2030s in the UK and early 2040s for the Australian navy.
The office in Glasgow has been opened in response to the increased work the new orders are expected to create.
Ms Eagle opened the office near Glasgow Airport on Friday, saying it will play a “critical” role in the future programmes.
After an opening ceremony, she told journalists: “It’s a big job and Rolls-Royce do a lot of it when it comes to the propulsion side of things and it’s great to see them expand.
“They’re going to have to expand more to do all the work. It’s really brilliant that Glasgow is getting a slice of this.
“What better place, with the history of shipbuilding and marine engineering that there is here.”
Earlier this week, the Government announced it is retiring a number of older Royal Navy vessels in a bid to cut costs, including the landing ships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark and the frigate HMS Northumberland.
The minister was asked about the procurement of new surface ships and what the Government is doing to ensure there are not slippages in the delivery dates, an issue which has plagued other military shipbuilding projects in the past.
New classes of frigates are currently under construction in Glasgow and Rosyth, Fife.
Ms Eagle said: “We have to do better at the processes we undertake, but ships do take quite a long time to build and I don’t think there’s any way around that.”
She said that under the Government’s current plans, there are no capability gaps as it retires the older Type 23 frigates.
Steve Carlier, president of Rolls-Royce Submarines, said: “The work we do for the Royal Navy is of critical strategic importance and to deliver it we need to harness talent from across the UK, not just from our base in Derby.
“The opening of our Glasgow office allows us to benefit from the region’s strong pedigree in electrical engineering and add to our own existing pool of nuclear experts.”
