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Type 31 frigate
The Type 31 frigate, also known as the Inspiration class, formerly known as the Type 31e frigate or General Purpose Frigate (GPF), is a class of five frigates being built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy, with variants also being built for the Indonesian and Polish navies. The Type 31 is intended to enter service in the 2020s alongside the eight submarine-hunting Type 26 frigates, replacing five general-purpose Type 23 frigates. The Type 31 is part of the British government's "National Shipbuilding Strategy".
Under construction by Babcock International, it is based on the Odense Maritime Technology (OMT) Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate hull and is marketed under the name Arrowhead 140. The design was sold to Indonesia as the four ship Balaputradewa-class frigate, equipped with Turkish MiDLAS VLS, in September 2021, and to Poland for the three ship Wicher-class frigates in March 2022.
The 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) authorised the Global Combat Ship (GCS) programme, which would replace the Royal Navy's thirteen Type 23 frigates. Earlier that year, BAE Systems was awarded a four-year, £127 million contract by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to design the new class. It was planned that two variants of the class would be built: five general purpose frigates and eight anti-submarine warfare frigates. There was to be little difference between the two variants, except for the Sonar 2087. Initial expectations were that construction would start in 2016 and the ships would gradually replace the Type 23 frigates by the mid-2030s. The 2015 Defence Review decided that only the eight anti-submarine warfare Type 26 frigates would be ordered and five general purpose frigates to an altogether different design would be ordered to give at least 13 frigates in RN service.
The resultant General Purpose Frigate (GPFF) was to be a lighter, flexible and more affordable general purpose frigate class. According to the 2015 SDSR, the lower cost of these frigates could lead to the Royal Navy acquiring more than five, therefore increasing its overall numbers of frigates and destroyers. During a defence and security lecture in July 2016, GPFF was referred to as the Type 31 frigate by the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Philip Jones, who also stated that Type 31 frigates could permanently operate "East of Suez"—from the Persian Gulf region to the Asia-Pacific.
During the same month, BAE Systems revealed two general purpose frigate designs: the "Avenger class", which was based on the "Amazonas-class/River-class Batch 2 offshore patrol vessel", and the "Cutlass class" that was described as a "significantly stretched and enhanced derivation of the Al Shamikh-class corvette design". The Sunday Times stated that Babcock International and BMT had also submitted one design each.
Jones described the GPFF as "to be a much less high-end ship. It is still a complex warship, and it is still able to protect and defend and to exert influence around the world, but it is deliberately shaped with lessons from wider industry and off-the-shelf technology to make it... more appealing to operate at a slightly lower end of Royal Navy operations." IHS Janes described it as a "credible frigate" that will cover "maritime security, maritime counter-terrorism and counter-piracy operations, escort duties, and naval fire support... [sitting] between the high-end capability delivered by the Type 26 and Type 45, and the constabulary-oriented outputs to be delivered by the five River-class Batch 2 OPVs."
A September 2017 graphic released by the Royal Navy stressed modular adaptability and flexible construction of the design for export opportunities. Core requirements of the Type 31e frigate included a medium calibre gun, point defence systems, hangar and a flight deck for Wildcat or ten tonne helicopter operated by a crew of around 100 with space for 40 more personnel. The British government released a Request for information (RFI) in September 2017, detailing the desired characteristics of the Type 31e. The RFI provided greater details such as a "Medium Calibre Gun" of greater than 57 mm (2.2 in), a point defence anti-air missile system and the optional ability to launch and recover unmanned aerial vehicles.
In October 2017, the Financial Times stated that "officials inside the Ministry of Defence, the Treasury and Royal Navy have long resented the obligation, set a decade ago, to maintain skills and shipbuilding capacity at BAE's shipyards on the Clyde regardless of naval needs. It quoted Francis Tusa, a defence analyst, who argued that the competition appeared to be designed to break BAE's hold on naval shipbuilding; "were they to have bid as BAE Systems, they wouldn't win. That is absolutely obvious. The fact is that the Type 31 is slanted probably to exclude any bid that includes BAE." However, this was denied by the MoD, which stated that the competition was designed to improve speed of delivery and reduce cost.
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Type 31 frigate
The Type 31 frigate, also known as the Inspiration class, formerly known as the Type 31e frigate or General Purpose Frigate (GPF), is a class of five frigates being built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy, with variants also being built for the Indonesian and Polish navies. The Type 31 is intended to enter service in the 2020s alongside the eight submarine-hunting Type 26 frigates, replacing five general-purpose Type 23 frigates. The Type 31 is part of the British government's "National Shipbuilding Strategy".
Under construction by Babcock International, it is based on the Odense Maritime Technology (OMT) Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate hull and is marketed under the name Arrowhead 140. The design was sold to Indonesia as the four ship Balaputradewa-class frigate, equipped with Turkish MiDLAS VLS, in September 2021, and to Poland for the three ship Wicher-class frigates in March 2022.
The 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) authorised the Global Combat Ship (GCS) programme, which would replace the Royal Navy's thirteen Type 23 frigates. Earlier that year, BAE Systems was awarded a four-year, £127 million contract by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to design the new class. It was planned that two variants of the class would be built: five general purpose frigates and eight anti-submarine warfare frigates. There was to be little difference between the two variants, except for the Sonar 2087. Initial expectations were that construction would start in 2016 and the ships would gradually replace the Type 23 frigates by the mid-2030s. The 2015 Defence Review decided that only the eight anti-submarine warfare Type 26 frigates would be ordered and five general purpose frigates to an altogether different design would be ordered to give at least 13 frigates in RN service.
The resultant General Purpose Frigate (GPFF) was to be a lighter, flexible and more affordable general purpose frigate class. According to the 2015 SDSR, the lower cost of these frigates could lead to the Royal Navy acquiring more than five, therefore increasing its overall numbers of frigates and destroyers. During a defence and security lecture in July 2016, GPFF was referred to as the Type 31 frigate by the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Philip Jones, who also stated that Type 31 frigates could permanently operate "East of Suez"—from the Persian Gulf region to the Asia-Pacific.
During the same month, BAE Systems revealed two general purpose frigate designs: the "Avenger class", which was based on the "Amazonas-class/River-class Batch 2 offshore patrol vessel", and the "Cutlass class" that was described as a "significantly stretched and enhanced derivation of the Al Shamikh-class corvette design". The Sunday Times stated that Babcock International and BMT had also submitted one design each.
Jones described the GPFF as "to be a much less high-end ship. It is still a complex warship, and it is still able to protect and defend and to exert influence around the world, but it is deliberately shaped with lessons from wider industry and off-the-shelf technology to make it... more appealing to operate at a slightly lower end of Royal Navy operations." IHS Janes described it as a "credible frigate" that will cover "maritime security, maritime counter-terrorism and counter-piracy operations, escort duties, and naval fire support... [sitting] between the high-end capability delivered by the Type 26 and Type 45, and the constabulary-oriented outputs to be delivered by the five River-class Batch 2 OPVs."
A September 2017 graphic released by the Royal Navy stressed modular adaptability and flexible construction of the design for export opportunities. Core requirements of the Type 31e frigate included a medium calibre gun, point defence systems, hangar and a flight deck for Wildcat or ten tonne helicopter operated by a crew of around 100 with space for 40 more personnel. The British government released a Request for information (RFI) in September 2017, detailing the desired characteristics of the Type 31e. The RFI provided greater details such as a "Medium Calibre Gun" of greater than 57 mm (2.2 in), a point defence anti-air missile system and the optional ability to launch and recover unmanned aerial vehicles.
In October 2017, the Financial Times stated that "officials inside the Ministry of Defence, the Treasury and Royal Navy have long resented the obligation, set a decade ago, to maintain skills and shipbuilding capacity at BAE's shipyards on the Clyde regardless of naval needs. It quoted Francis Tusa, a defence analyst, who argued that the competition appeared to be designed to break BAE's hold on naval shipbuilding; "were they to have bid as BAE Systems, they wouldn't win. That is absolutely obvious. The fact is that the Type 31 is slanted probably to exclude any bid that includes BAE." However, this was denied by the MoD, which stated that the competition was designed to improve speed of delivery and reduce cost.