NORWAY’S navy has signed a £10bn deal to buy at least five submarine-hunting ships from Britain – beating competition from the US and Europe.
The hi-tech frigates will be used to counter Russian threat in the frozen seas around Scandinavia and the Arctic Circle.
The deal was announced yesterday after The Sun revealed in June that Royal Navy chiefs were trying to broker a deal with their Norwegian counterparts to buy the Type-26 frigates.
And it comes after British, American and Norwegian sailors launched a major hunt last week for a Russian sub suspected of threatening a US aircraft carrier in Arctic waters.
Navy chiefs said the £10bn deal will see Britain and Norway’s navies order a 13 new ships from defence giant BAE Systems.
Eight have been ordered by the Royal Navy, while five will be operated by the Norwegians.
The Ministry of Defence said the deal will support 4,000 jobs across the UK supply chain until well into the 2030s, including more than 2,000 at BAE’s Glasgow shipyards.
Defence Secretary, John Healey MP said: “For over 75 years, Britain and Norway have stood together on NATO’s northern and north-eastern frontiers, keeping the UK and Europe safe. This historic defence deal deepens our strategic partnership.”
It is the first time UK-made warships have been sold directly from a dockyard to a foreign navy for decades and represents Britain’s biggest ever warship export deal by value.
Norway was considering purchasing American warships, but was reportedly put off by Donald Trump’s threats of sanctions.
Kenny RamsayBritain has landed a £10billion deal to supply at least five sub-hunting frigates to counter the threat of Russia[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
