UK secures £10bn deal to supply Norway with warships

2025-09-01 07:59:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The United Kingdom has secured a £10 billion deal to supply the Norwegian navy with at least five new warships.

The deal to provide Type 26 frigates will be the UK's "largest warship export deal by value", the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said, while Norway said it would be its "largest investment in defence capabilities" to date.

The government said the deal would support 4,000 jobs in the UK "by the 2030s", including more than 2,000 at BAE Systems' shipyards in Glasgow where the frigates will be built.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the deal would "boost growth and protect national security for working people".

"This success is testament to the thousands of people across the country who are not only delivering these next-generation capabilities to our Armed Forces, but also national security for the UK, our Norwegian partners and NATO for years to come," he added.

The deal is also expected to support more than 400 British businesses, including 103 in Scotland, the Ministry of Defence said.

Speaking to the BBC, Defence Minister Luke Pollard called it "the biggest British warship deal in history" and "a huge vote of confidence in British workers and the British defence industry".

But the move was criticized by some in Norway, including Tor Ivar Strommen, a naval captain at the Norwegian Naval Academy, who said the French and German frigates were superior to the British.

"The British Navy builds ships for one role," he told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. "It just has old-fashioned, quite limited air defense."

The deal represents a victory for the British government and defense industry over France, Germany and the United States - which were also being considered by Norway as potential sellers.

It will create a combined British-Norwegian fleet of 13 anti-submarine frigates - eight British ships and five Norwegian ships - to operate together in northern Europe, significantly strengthening NATO's northern wing.

The warships will be built at BAE Systems' shipyard in the Govan area of ??Glasgow, where frigates are currently being built for the Royal Navy.

Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said the UK's choice "demonstrates the extraordinary success of our shipbuilding industry and showcases the world-class skills and expertise of the workforce on the Clyde".

Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, who informed Sir Keir of the decision to choose the UK in a phone call on Saturday evening, said the partnership "represents a historic strengthening of defence cooperation between our two countries".

Store said the government had weighed two questions in its decision: "Who is our most strategic partner? And who has delivered the best frigates?... The answer to both is the United Kingdom."/ CNA