The Type 26 frigate is a ship design and manufacture programme of the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom, to partially replace the thirteen Type 23 frigates of the Royal Navy and for export. The Royal Navy variant is known as The Global Combat Ship (GCS) or the City-class frigate. It will be multi-mission warship designed to support anti-submarine warfare, air defence and general purpose operations. The programme began in 1998, under what was then known as the Future Surface Combatant (FSC). However, by March 2010, this procurement programme had evolved to become the Global Combat Ship, following the announcement of a four-year, £127 million design contract being awarded to BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships. In August 2015 the first long lead items for Type 26 were ordered, with manufacturing then expected to begin in 2016 and the first Type 26 to be delivered in 2023. In November 2016 it was announced that first steel would be cut for the eight Royal Navy ships in summer 2017. They will be built at BAE Systems’ Govan and Scotstoun yards on the River Clyde in Glasgow. The contract award to manufacture the Type 26 was announced by BAE Systems on 2 July 2017, with steel cut for the first of class, HMS Glasgow on 20 July 2017 by the Secretary of State for Defence, Sir Michael Fallon.
Royal Navy Type 26 frigate
