On the heels of a Defense Cooperation Agreement announced by the United Kingdom and Brazilian, BAE Systems confirmed its commitment to Brazil and its naval re-equipment program in a move that paves the way for new industrial partnerships with Brazil.
Speaking in Brazil as part of a trade mission led by Gerald Howarth, U.K. Minister for International Security Strategy, Dean McCumiskey, BAE Systems’ managing director for the West, said: “…we are offering an assured warship procurement package to Brazil. This is based on proven and versatile ship designs and includes an invitation to become an international partner in our new Global Combat Ship program.”
If BAE Systems is chosen to support the program, the ships the company develops would be built at a partner shipyard in Brazil, with maximum content sourced from the wider Brazilian industry.
The offer presented to Brazilian government is designed to meet the objectives set out in Brazil’s National Strategy of Defense to enhance its indigenous industrial capability by enabling Brazil to develop an independent, sustainable naval shipbuilding and through-life maritime support capability.
“BAE Systems has a long track record of working with the Brazilian Navy,” added Ben Palmer, business development director at BAE Systems’ Surface Ships division. “Our involvement can be traced back to Brazil’s Niteroi Class frigates supplied by our legacy business VT Shipbuilding in the 1970s.”
The Global Combat Ship program would deliver a new generation of affordable multirole warships featuring a core platform, which is sufficiently open to allow tailored equipment and systems to be integrated to meet individual customer needs.
The first class of ships being developed under the program is the Type 26 variant for the U.K. Royal Navy, which is expected to enter service at the start of the next decade. Becoming involved at this early stage will give Brazil the opportunity to influence design development.
The resulting rationalised design, build and procurement process will also reduce the cost per ship and deliver substantial through-life savings to both Brazil and the UK in training, maintenance and support.