Harland & Wolff joins forces with Navantia to form new defence challenger, Team Resolute

Harland & Wolff has joined forces with Spanish shipyard and trusted NATO partner Navantia, to form Team Resolute, a UK shipbuilding collaboration which will bid for a range of contracts, including the UK Ministry of Defence Fleet Solid Support Programme (‘FSS’). As part of this, Harland and Wolff has signed an exclusive Teaming Agreement with Navantia, with BMT participating as an exclusive subcontractor in the FSS Programme.

Team Resolute combines 159 years of shipbuilding experience at one of the UK’s biggest shipyards, including the two largest dry docks in Europe, with unrivalled auxiliary design experience from UK designer BMT and a world-leading auxiliary shipbuilding track record from Navantia.

As set out in the UK National Shipbuilding Strategy, the UK Government is seeking to strengthen the UK’s sovereign shipbuilding capability and prosperity, while driving cost and production efficiencies. Team Resolute offers a low risk and value for money UK solution for FSS based on recent and current experience designing and building comparable ships for other navies.

If successful in the bid, Team Resolute will inject significant investment into local economies across the whole of the UK through ship design and construction.

Team Resolute is ideally positioned to meet the UK Government’s current requirements and deliver additional benefits for the UK in four key ways:

• Prosperity for the UK. It will re-establish a skills base for UK shipbuilding in Northern Ireland, strengthening the UK’s sovereign shipbuilding capability and economic prosperity. Transfer of Navantia’s cutting edge digital shipyard knowledge to Harland & Wolff will support the modernisation and availability of this UK sovereign asset for FSS and beyond.
• UK industrial strength for a UK FSS programme. It will provide the UK Government with the sovereign industrial capability to make FSS a successful UK programme. It will use a world beating British design from BMT, build at Harland & Wolff’s facilities in Northern Ireland, and incorporate wider UK fabrication, materials and equipment.
• A formidable British design pedigree. BMT is the only company to have been involved in the design of QEC and MARS Fleet Tanker Programme. This experience provides the best possible foundation for delivering an FSS design that will comply with the project requirements and provide the capability necessary to complete the Carrier Strike Group.
• The ideal partnership for assured FSS delivery. BMT’s unique design experience will reduce development time. Harland & Wolff’s and Navantia’s joint unparalleled dry dock capacity will minimise the FSS ships entry to service for the Carrier Strike Group. Navantia’s risk management experience with Australian and Spanish Navies will assure delivery to cost, time and quality.

Additionally, Team Resolute has already identified future naval, commercial and offshore renewable contracts. Navantia delivers a wide range of naval and support ships to governments around the world. Team Resolute is already exploring future commercial opportunities together, and there is a real opportunity for UK suppliers to secure future work on other Navantia and Harland & Wolff programmes.

Navantia’s experience in developing a digitally enhanced shipyard approach, Shipyard 4.0, will be shared with all UK partners across the FSS supply chain to help improve efficiency by up to 20%. This is an opportunity for UK companies to work collaboratively with us in developing and exploiting the use of digital technology to improve competitiveness, as proposed in the UK National Shipbuilding Strategy.