The Ministry of Defence (MoD) signed a contract earlier this month with BAE Systems that will safeguard 3,000 skilled jobs at Barrow in Cumbria. A £1.2 billion order has been given to BAE to design and build the Royal Navy’s new submarine HMS Audacious. The MoD also announced that a further £1.5 billion has been committed to the existing three submarines in the class.

HMS Audacious is the fourth of seven Astute Class nuclear-powered submarines to be built for the Royal Navy to replace the Trafalgar Class. The first two are currently undergoing sea trials, while the third is reaching the final stages of construction at Barrow.

It emerged in November that HMS Astute had a flooding problem during sea trials, forcing it to resurface. Electrical switchboards were also found to be fitted incorrectly, and there were concerns last year about the accuracy of the instruments that monitor its nuclear reactor.

Rear Admiral Simon Lister, the MoD’s director of submarines, said: “The Astute Class will become the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the Royal Navy’s submarine service, with much greater fire-power and more-advanced sonar and communications than ever before. These boats provide the optimum capability a submarine can offer in land strike, strategic intelligence gathering, anti-submarine and surface-ship warfare, and protection of the strategic deterrent.”