UK's Type 31 frigate could soon compete for US Navy contract as Washington turns to foreign warship designs.

UK defense contractor Babcock confirmed its interest in offering the Arrowhead 140 frigate design, the foundation for the Royal Navy's Type 31, for a U.S. Navy surface combatant requirement following Washington's policy shift permitting limited foreign warship construction. Exploring a potential partnership with Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) for domestic assembly, Babcock aims to position the platform as an alternative following the reduction of the Constellation-class program to two vessels. The initiative places the British design in potential competition with Japanese, South Korean, and Turkish frigate alternatives.

Following changes to U.S. warship procurement rules, the British shipbuilder Babcock has expressed interest in offering its Arrowhead 140 frigate design in a potential partnership with HII to meet the U.S. Navy's future requirements. (Picture source: UK MoD)

The British company Babcock confirmed to The Telegraph on October 25, 2026, its interest in competing for a new U.S. Navy surface-combatant requirement, following Donald Trump's August 13, 2026, decision to permit limited foreign warship construction. Babcock has held preliminary meetings with Pentagon officials and could cooperate with Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) to, according to Navy Lookout, potentially manufacture the Arrowhead 140 general-purpose frigate in American shipyards, a design selected for the British Royal Navy's Type 31 warships. An expression of interest is expected before the end of October, but no formal bid, construction site or contract has been confirmed.

The opportunity follows the December 2025 reduction of the Constellation-class program to two ships and could place Babcock against the Japanese Mogami-class, South Korean Chungnam-class and Turkish Istanbul-class frigates. Unlike those frigates, the British Type 31 configuration has not entered operational service, and its baseline lacks shipborne sonar for sustained anti-submarine warfare. President Donald Trump's August 13, 2026, memorandum establishes five industrial conditions; it allows foreign suppliers to construct the first two vessels overseas if they establish a new U.S. shipyard or acquire ownership or majority equity in an existing facility. Subsequent ships must be built domestically using American workers, licensed production technology, and U.S. supply chains, following the October 9, 2025, U.S.-Finland icebreaker model.

Related topic: US Navy eyes three foreign frigate designs to rapidly match China's growing production rates

The Secretary of War must submit a surface-combatant acquisition plan by November 12, 2026, while modifications to mature foreign designs require senior administration approval. Overseas construction also requires a national-security exception under 10 U.S.C. 8679 and congressional notification 30 days before contract award. The House FY2027 defense authorization proposal prohibits foreign-built warships, while the Senate Armed Services Committee permits up to two foreign-built auxiliary vessels but maintains restrictions on combatants. Washington has requested $1.85 billion to evaluate foreign construction and potentially finance initial procurement, although Babcock's absence of an American shipyard leaves its eligibility dependent on the eventual investment and contractual arrangement. Washington is primarily seeking an existing frigate design capable of submarine warfare, anti-ship operations, and convoy protection.

However, the Type 31 has not entered service, and its baseline equipment lacks the shipborne sonar required for sustained anti-submarine operations. Its Arrowhead 140 design originates from Denmark's Iver Huitfeldt-class and was selected in September 2019 for the British Type 31 program under a £1.25 billion construction contract, initially averaging £250 million per ship. The British design measures 138.7 meters in length, 19.8 meters in beam and displaces 5,700 tonnes, with four MTU 20V 8000 diesel engines driving two shafts at speeds exceeding 26 knots. Its published export-design range reaches 9,000 nautical miles at 18 knots, although the British procurement authority specifies 7,500 nautical miles and 28 knots for the five Type 31s. The intended crew complement is 110 to 115 sailors, with additional accommodation for mission specialists.

Unlike the Type 26, however, the Type 31 frigate lacks integrated electric propulsion and dedicated acoustic-quieting arrangements, which limits its suitability for passive submarine detection without further modifications. The Type 31's planned armament consists of one Bofors 57 mm Mk 3 gun, two Bofors 40 mm Mk 4 mounts, Sea Ceptor missiles with an engagement range of 25 km, and Naval Strike Missiles (NSMs), confirmed in June 2026. Structural foundations accommodate up to four Mk 41 strike-length modules, providing capacity for 32 cells, although the first two ships, HMS Venturer and HMS Active, will require post-construction installation and the initial Sea Ceptor allocation remains unconfirmed. Its Thales NS110 S-band AESA radar operates with the TACTICOS combat management system and Mirador electro-optical directors, while the hangar accommodates a Wildcat or Merlin helicopter.

Three boat bays and an enclosed mission space support additional craft and equipment, but large payloads require crane loading in port. The main deficiency against the U.S. Navy's frigate requirement is the absence of hull-mounted, variable-depth and towed-array sonar. A Merlin HM2 can provide dipping-sonar and sonobuoy coverage, but installing continuous shipborne detection would require additional sensors, processing equipment, acoustic assessment and combat system integration. The Type 31 production schedule has also slipped substantially since the original 2023 operational service objective, and was subsequently revised to May 2027. HMS Venturer's construction began in September 2021 and floating happened on June 14, 2025, approximately 15 months later than the revised early-2024 target, while HMS Active began in January 2023 and floated on March 21, 2026.

Construction of HMS Formidable began in October 2024 and HMS Bulldog in February 2026, producing successive steel-cutting intervals of 16, 21 and 16 months against the original 12-month target. In May 2026, Babcock recorded a £140 million charge for rework and construction sequencing, raising cumulative losses above £300 million on the five-ship contract. Estimated average expenditure has approached £400 million per vessel, compared with the original £250 million construction benchmark, although the cost categories differ. Consequently, no Type 31 has completed operational certification, leaving American procurement planners without a demonstrated British production rate or completed combat configuration. However, Babcock's relationship with American shipbuilders predates the frigate proposal.

Since 2014, its Rosyth and Bristol facilities have manufactured tactical missile tube assemblies for General Dynamics Electric Boat's Common Missile Compartment, shared by the Columbia-class and Dreadnought-class ballistic missile submarines. Babcock and HII also signed a strategic agreement in 2023 and expanded their cooperation into REMUS uncrewed underwater vehicles and submarine launch equipment. Moreover, in December 2025, HII's Newport News division contracted Babcock to manufacture structural assemblies for Block VI Virginia-class submarines at Rosyth. An Arrowhead agreement could involve British design licensing and American hull construction, but Babcock's lack of U.S. shipyard ownership complicates compliance with the August memorandum.

HII also leads the domestic FF(X) frigate program, which passed critical design review in 2026 and received $282 million for long-lead material in April, while its cooperation with HD Hyundai further complicates the competitive picture, as the Korean company is associated with the rival Chungnam-class frigate. The U.S. Navy's choice will depend on whether it prioritizes rapid construction of general-purpose escorts or requires a frigate with integrated anti-submarine capabilities from initial delivery. The Arrowhead 140 could undertake surface patrols, convoy protection and local air defense, but its baseline sonar deficiency would restrict sustained submarine screening without an embarked helicopter or additional sensors.

Babcock and HII have also developed ARMOR Force, a proposed arrangement in which a Type 31 controls up to three ROMULUS large uncrewed surface vessels through additional consoles, servers and communications equipment; this capability has not entered operational service. Procurement quantity would influence operating costs: two or three foreign-derived frigates would require separate training, maintenance and spare-parts arrangements for a small class, while 10 to 20 vessels could distribute those fixed costs across a larger fleet. Babcock has already licensed Arrowhead derivatives to Poland and Indonesia and is pursuing Chile, New Zealand and Denmark, but no American construction price or production interval has been established.

With the Constellation program reduced to two ships and the domestic FF(X) proceeding in parallel, Washington must determine whether the Type 31's existing configuration meets its minimum requirements before authorizing changes. Additional sonar, American combat systems, and certification requirements could otherwise reproduce the redesign costs and construction delays that the August 2026 acquisition reforms seek to prevent.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.