September 3, 2025
News Commentaries
Royal Navy’s Type 31 frigate on course for export success in Scandinavia
The FT
reports the UK is in advanced negotiations to build new warships for Denmark and Sweden. Having just won an order for 5 Type 26 frigates for Norway, this would be a remarkable turnaround in UK warship exports with great benefits to the RN and the wider British economy.
The discussions centre on Babcock’s Type 31 frigate, based on the Arrowhead 140 design, which has already been selected by Indonesia and Poland. In both cases, local construction was favoured, but the Danish and Swedish deals are expected to include substantial work at Babcock’s Rosyth shipyard in Scotland.
Type 31 full circle
Denmark seems likely to place an order for 3 Type 31 derivatives to be constructed in the UK, possibly with further ships of the class to be subsequently built in Denmark.
The Royal Navy’s Type 31 frigate is derived from the Arrowhead 140 design, itself based on the Danish Iver Huitfeldt class. The three Iver Huitfeldt air-defence frigates entered service with the Royal Danish Navy in 2012–13 and were built around the modular StanFlex system, which allowed rapid changes to weapons configurations. While outwardly similar, the Arrowhead 140 represents a significant redesign, dispensing with the StanFlex approach and incorporating major improvements in survivability over the original Danish ships. The Iver Huitfeldts were block-built in Estonia and Lithuania, with sections transported to the Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark for final assembly and weapon integration.
The Huitfeldts were conceived as modular air-defence ships with the StanFlex system allowing rapid changes to weapons fits.
While cost-effective, the class has suffered from long-running integration issues with its APAR radar and combat management system. The problems became starkly apparent when HDMS Iver Huitfeldt deployed to the Red Sea in 2024, with limitations in combat system integration undermining effectiveness against missile threats. The Danish defence ministry has since concluded that mid-life upgrades are uneconomical and the ships will be reduced in capability to second-line patrol duties.
The new Danish frigates, though based on the Arrowhead 140, are expected to be tailored primarily for air defence, with different sensors and weapons compared with the general-purpose vessels under construction for the RN. They are likely to have greater resemblance to the Polish
Miecznik class being built in Poland in partnership with Babcock, another ambitious adaptation of the design.
Type 31 v FDI for Sweden
Talks with Sweden are described as positive but more complex. Stockholm is considering buying frigates to complement its corvette programme and has a choice between Type 31 or the French FDI frigate, supported by a recently signed Franco-Swedish defence cooperation agreement. The Swedish requirement is for up to four frigates, with a decision expected by the end of the year.
Babcock is already working with Saab on the development of Sweden’s new Luleå-class corvette. A joint venture signed in 2024 sees Saab provide the baseline design while Babcock contributes engineering and systems integration expertise. It is possible that the Luleå-class could be constructed in Rosyth and subsequently fitted out in Sweden.
Further building on this partnership an Arrowhead-140 / Type 31-based frigate for Sweden could be a logical choice. This competition is potentially more challenging. Unlike Norway’s recent anti-submarine warfare frigate selection, where the high-end Type 26 was chosen over the lower-end French FDI frigate, the Swedish requirement is seen as more closely matched to what the FDI can offer. Winning the contract will depend as much on industrial and political alignment as on ship design.
Saab concept image for the Luleå-class corvettes. There is limited information about the design in the public domain, but they are likely to be around 120m in length and be highly stealthy. The 4 vessels are to be named: HSwMS Lulea, Norrköping, Trelleborg and Halmstad.
Wider significance
These developments come as the UK seeks to deepen defence ties with Scandinavian partners to counter Russia’s submarine and missile threats in the High North. Operating similar platforms will not only strengthen NATO’s northern flank but also create opportunities for common training, logistics and operational cooperation across allied fleets.
Babcock has already begun delivering five
Type 31 frigates for the RN, with the first-of-class HMS Venturer due to enter service later this decade. With deals in Indonesia and Poland already secured, likely construction for Denmark and Sweden a possibility, this would cement the Type 31’s place as one of the most successful European warship exports of the decade.
Chief Executive of Babcock Marine, Sir Nick Hine, told Navy Lookout in May this year that he has set the target for his exports team for “31 by 31”. This aspiration to have around 31 Type 31/Arrowhead 140 derivatives built or on order worldwide by 2031 does not seem too far-fetched, with Chile and New Zealand also rumoured to be interested in Type 31.
The UK was once the shipbuilding powerhouse of the world, and even after the major decline following the Second World War managed to successfully export warships up until the 1990s, when it started to lose out to European yards, many of which were at least partially subsidised by the state. A decade ago, the idea that the UK could bounce back so spectacularly seemed highly unlikely. Despite the much-trumpeted UK Shipbuilding Strategy published in 2017, the recent export successes have really been down to other factors. Russian aggression in Ukraine and President Trump’s hesitance to back NATO is driving a re-armament across Europe that was unforeseen, even in 2017.
Although developed in a painfully slow and drawn-out gestation, the
Type 26 design represents arguably the finest submarine-hunting surface combatant in the world. Its competitors may be cheaper and have better all-round capabilities, but it is the best in the specialist role and builds on decades of RN ASW expertise and the excellence of the Type 23s.
The RN’s decision in 2015 to build a simpler, cheaper frigate (GPFF) with a fixed price of £250M that led to Type 31 has proved wise. Although the initial delivery timeframe was wildly optimistic and the cost envelope has been somewhat exceeded, the RN is getting affordable and adaptable ships in a relatively quick time. Babcock’s decision to go for a large adaptable platform as the basis for their bid has also paid off. Although financially they will barely break even on the RN programme, in the long run the investment will pay off handsomely if a continuous drumbeat of production can be maintained at Rosyth.
The Type 32 (or Type 31 batch II) frigate programme promised by Boris Johnson’s government seems to be an unfulfilled promise, given constrained budgets. This means subsequent work at Rosyth on export projects will not involve quite the same trade-offs in delivery for the RN that the Type 26 frigates for Norway imply. However,
the RN will benefit by being part of a large community of Arrowhead-140 operators with all economies of scale and opportunities for shared support, expertise and interoperability that comes with international collaboration.
The FT reports the UK is in advanced negotiations to build new warships for Denmark and Sweden. Having just won an order for 5 Type 26 frigates for Norway, this would be a remarkable turnaround in UK warship exports with great benefits to the RN and the wider British economy. The discussions...
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