Originally Posted by
SLXOwft
Well, as mentioned in the linked POLITICO article their experience with 'doing a (UK) MOD' on a foreign design isn't exactly going well. I posted a link to
an article about a year's delay to the FREMM based Constellation in January (I think on the AUKUS thread), thing appear to have got worse. A bit like the Hunters, taking an existing design and changing it, I wait with interest progress on the Canadian Serviuce Combatant (also T26 based)
Ahem. Type 31.
HMS Venturer was originally planned to be in the water at the end of last year. Current estimate is that she'll be "launched" towards the back end of this year. Not necessarily a problem (can do an awful lot more up to a point), but indicative of the difficulties involved for a yard that has never built a ship before.
WodS (Word on da Street) is that using a near-twenty year old "off the shelf" design and trying to get it through RN certification isn't as easy as people thought it would be. Who knew?