Royal Norwegian Navy (RNoN) News and Discussion
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The main focus is on ASW and integration with a close NATO ally... since that close NATO ally turned out to be the UK, T26 it is. Yes air defense is the weak spot of the T26. Norway is in any case too small to operate independently. We need deep integration with the UK, Denmark, and other NATO allies that can provide AAW. Because we will not have much to offer in that regard. Norwegian ASW however should be top notch.
Overall, a good choice, in spite of the severe air defense limitations. Hopefully there will be an upgrade on air defense real soon.
Nice summary by navalnews: Norway selects British Type 26 frigates - Naval News
BAE is already trying to increase their production drumbeat to 1 T26 per year by hull #5 (~2032 delivery). There does not appear to be any scope for them to go faster/sooner, so even with some help from Vard potentially building a few basic hull modules, the assembly & fit out bottleneck will remain in the UK (as Vard’s building dock isn’t big enough).
So with the 9th T26 most likely not coming before 2035 - that will be the first net new build - anything before that will just be robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Which is doubly a problem because due to shortsighted design requirements neither is the T26 RN well suited to AAW upgrades (which would require replacing the entire skinny sensor mast with a much more massive and heavy radar structure), nor is the T31 suited to ASW sonar upgrades. So the RN is stuck with a diminished fleet of flawed and not very versatile escorts.
A possibility , of course, would be to keep Babcock’s warship building viable, which it won’t be after about 2030 without more orders. Perhaps a couple more T31, or maybe there is actually going to be a T32 in a reasonable time frame. Interesting time are a coming.
It can carry longer-range missiles in the Mk41. The limiting factor is probably radar performance. From what I've read, Artisan is reckoned to be good, but is small, with limited range, & is a single faced rotator. Ordering for early delivery probably prevents a new radar initially, but it could be done later.
Some of type 26's build rate is driven by how fast the customer (HMG) wants to spend money I think - now the production is in full swing, there may be scope for some shortening of the build cycle. This would be normal for serial production - the first hulls always take a bit longer than the subsequent ones as folk are trying to work out how best to plug stuff together.
A researcher at the Norwegian Naval Academy (Strømmen) is critizising the T26 selection, highlighting two issues; the weak air defense, and also the availability issues the RN has had the last 20 years. Since Norway is ordering 5 frigates (could be increased to 6) availability is very important. Hopefully increased UK defense budgets will help reduce this issue; I am also hoping that if Norway and the UK will have the same platform they will share costs to maintain and upgrade and hopefully this will also improve the situation.
Another Norwegian analyst is also concerned that selecting a frigate from a non-EU country will not help Norway in becoming more integrated with the EU defense ecosystem. Not sure how big of an issue this is; even if both UK and Norway are outside of EU, I think EU will appreciate close defense collaboration with both UK and Norway. After all, compared to China/Russia and the US, EU is very weak. Norway is tiny but has a strategic position and is a very important producer of Energy. And even if the UK armed forces have become disturbingly weak, the UK still can contribute significantly to European defense.
– Ikke det beste valget
Another Norwegian analyst is also concerned that selecting a frigate from a non-EU country will not help Norway in becoming more integrated with the EU defense ecosystem. Not sure how big of an issue this is; even if both UK and Norway are outside of EU, I think EU will appreciate close defense collaboration with both UK and Norway. After all, compared to China/Russia and the US, EU is very weak. Norway is tiny but has a strategic position and is a very important producer of Energy. And even if the UK armed forces have become disturbingly weak, the UK still can contribute significantly to European defense.
– Ikke det beste valget