Exclusive: Sheffield steel to be used to build ‘most advanced submarines ever’ for British and Australian forces
Sheffield steel will be used to build new nuclear-powered submarines for the UK and Australian armed forces, the Defence Secretary will announce today.
John Healey is set to visit workers at Sheffield Forgemasters alongside Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles to make the announcement and reinforce the security partnership between the two countries.
They will say: “That bond not only protects our people, it also generates jobs and growth within local communities in the UK and Australia, as we will see in South Yorkshire today.”
The engineering company dates back to the start of the Industrial Revolution, and now produces high-level components for critical defence projects.
Mr Healey will announce today that Sheffield Forgemasters steel will be used in “the most advanced and powerful attack submarines ever operated by the Royal Navy”.
The subs, known as SSN-AUKUS, are set to become a key part of both countries’ armed forces.
They are expected to be ready for the UK’s Royal Navy in the late 2030s and the Royal Australian Navy in the early 2040s.
It is a big economic boost to the wider region, which already has around £330 million of investment in the defence industry.
Mr Healey and Mr Marles believe Sheffield Forgemasters is “a shining beacon for industrial renewal in a city that once produced nearly half of Europe’s total steel”.
The earliest references to steel-making in South Yorkshire date as far back as the 15th century, but it was 300 years later with Benjamin Huntsman’s invention of crucible steel in 1742 that the city began to capitalise on the Industrial Revolution.
The Defence Secretary and the Australian Deputy Prime Minister will also say that the visit shows the importance of the AUKUS agreement, the defence partnership between the UK, USA and Australia, to security and the economy.
They will reaffirm the commitment to the partnership in Sheffield and say it is “built on the bedrock of decades of close defence collaboration between our nations”.
The pair will say: “That bedrock was clearly evident at the Nato Summit in Washington this week, where all three AUKUS nations reaffirmed their full support for Ukraine as it continues to defend its sovereign territory against Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion.”
On the steel industry, Mr Healey and Mr Marles will add that “Sheffield Forgemasters shows how our AUKUS partnership can benefit local economies across Yorkshire and across Britain and Australia.
“What this shows is how defence will be a secure foundation on which the new UK government can grow the economy, rebuild relationships with allies and reinvigorate ties with business and workers,” the will say.
“With long-term commitments like our AUKUS, we can give a long-term boost to our domestic supply chains, manufacture more in Britain, create high-quality jobs, and invest in our future industrial legacy.”