Reference News Network, September 19 report: The UK's Financial Times website published an article titled "British Warships Will Be Mainly Built in Spain" on September 17. The author is journalist Jude Webb. The article excerpts as follows:

The report said that due to a shipyard in Belfast not being ready, a warship will be mainly built in Spain for the first time in British history. This controversial situation highlights the flaws in Britain's industrial base.

The Navantia shipyard, a state-owned defense company in Spain, told the Financial Times that the first of three warships it will deliver to the Royal Navy will have much of its construction work done in Spain rather than the UK, which is different from the company's previous plan for this £1.6 billion contract.

Donato Martínez, CEO of Navantia UK, said this change was because the shipyard in Belfast, known for building the Titanic, had not yet started operating.

Earlier this year, Navantia saved the Harland and Wolff shipyard from bankruptcy. Since then, the company has continued upgrading the Belfast shipyard.

Martínez said in an interview, "The facilities in Belfast are not ready... we moved some parts of the first ship to Spain and moved some parts of the second and third ships from Spain back."

In 2022, Navantia and Harland and Wolff beat a purely British consortium competitor to win this supply ship contract. At that time, unions were worried about jobs moving to Spain. Historically, British warships have been built within the UK and its territories.

The original plan was that different parts of the ships would be built at Harland and Wolff's old shipyard in Northern Ireland, the Appleton factory in England, and Navantia's Cádiz shipyard in southern Spain.

All three warships would be assembled in Belfast.

But according to the revised plan, only the bow of the first ship will be built in Appleton. The mid-section of the ship, originally planned to be built in Belfast, will be constructed in Spain along with the rest of the hull.

Martínez said that sticking to the previous plan would be "unrealistic," and the decision to transfer construction work to Spain was made in the first quarter of this year.

He said that the entire project, including the three ships, is still "on track," and these ships are expected to be commissioned by 2032.

Francis Tusa, analyst and editor of the UK's Defense Analysis magazine, said that if Navantia builds most of the first ship in Spain, it cannot be guaranteed that the other two warships will not be built abroad. (Translated by Zhao Feifei)

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7551732888652333607/

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