Wes Streeting said the Royal Navy mine-hunting motherships deal will help Britain and Norway field new Offshore Support Vessels through Norway’s P1118 Standardised Vessel Programme. He announced the commitment in Oslo at the Atlantic Future Forum on Thursday, alongside Tore O. Sandvik.
The MoD said the ships will make sea mine detection and disposal safer, quicker and more effective, keep sailors further from danger, and support anti-submarine warfare on NATO’s northern flank. Britain has set aside an additional £90 million for the purchase.
Oslo agreement and delivery route
The ships will be delivered through the Maritime Capability Partnership Framework between the two countries, making this a government-to-government purchase rather than a stand-alone ship order. The Royal Navy’s vessels will come from the same family as Norway’s future fleet, tying the UK order to the wider Norwegian build programme.
Streeting said, “This deal strengthens our ability to protect freedom of navigation, which is critical to our security and our economy.” He also said, “By using the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War to put the latest modern technology in the hands of our Sailors, we are helping to keep them safe and ensuring they have the tools to protect our shores.”
Norway’s vessel programme
Earlier this year, the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency picked Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and Salt Ship Design to design up to 28 standardised vessels for the Royal Norwegian Navy. Norway plans to replace more than ten existing classes with one common, modular platform, and Norway has also agreed to deliver standardised vessels to Lithuania.
That gives the UK order a built-in industrial logic: the Royal Navy is not buying an isolated platform, but joining a programme already shaping Norway’s own fleet. The arrangement also sits within the wider Type 26 export agreement with Norway.
Sea mines and UK jobs
The MoD linked the deal to the threat from sea mines, saying that risk has been brought into sharp focus by Iran’s illegal mining of the Strait of Hormuz. The department said the new ships will be used with autonomous mine-hunting systems, extending the Navy’s reach while reducing exposure for sailors on the water.
On the same day, the MoD announced an £8.8 million contract for TKMS ATLAS UK to maintain and repair the Royal Navy’s autonomous mine-hunting systems. That contract covers underwater and surface vessels and their command and control equipment, runs for an initial three and a half years, and is expected to sustain around 40 UK jobs.
The harder question is timing. The commitment is in place, the money is set aside, and the maintenance line is already moving, but the Royal Navy ships themselves still have to work through the procurement route that now links the UK to Norway’s programme.
