Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress his Department has made on implementing the Submersible Ship Nuclear AUKUS programme.

The SSN-AUKUS programme is approximately 18 months into the Detailed Design and Long Lead (D2L2) phase, with contracts totalling around £4 billion having been placed in October 2023. Infrastructure improvements are also being made at BAE Systems’ shipyard in Barrow and Rolls-Royce’s Raynesway site to support future submarine build programme requirements.

The programme aims to deliver the first UK submarines in the late 2030s, to replace the Astute Class.