Fleet Solid Support Ships: Weapons
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the his Department's annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026, what was the specific nature of the £1,704,000 constructive loss of the Fleet Solid Support Automatic Small Calibre Gun Rationalisation.
Answered by Ministry of Defence
The Fleet Solid Support (FSS) Automatic Small Calibre Gun requirement, which formed part of the manufacture contract with Navantia UK, has been removed from the contract as it is no longer aligned with the Royal Navy's (RN) most likely future gun solution. The RN gun rationalisation programme, introduced since the FSS manufacture contract was placed, aims to reduce the number of gun variants and bring commonality across the RN's Fleet, providing longer term value for money.
Although this decision has resulted in some financial loss, changing the requirement now avoids incurring greater losses at a later stage, associated with fitting and then replacing an incompatible system. The FSS ships will now be designed to accept a range of future gun systems that will enhance our warfighting readiness and deterrence.
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