UK-based defence firm the Babcock International Group has held preliminary discussions with Pentagon officials over recent months and is preparing to offer one of its warship designs to fulfil a US Navy frigate requirement.
The company is due to submit an expression of interest before the end of October. The prospective bid remains at an early stage.
"Of course we're interested,” Sir Nick Hine, Babcock's Chief Growth Officer and Chief Executive Marine, told The Telegraph. “We have a world class frigate, close links to the US and US industry. It would be insane for us not to respond.”
The newspaper identified Huntington Ingalls Industries as a possible joint bidder. A proposal may entail the transfer of intellectual property and designs, allowing the ships to be built by American workers in the US.
Babcock has no US shipyard, and its Rosyth facility in Scotland is committed to Royal Navy construction.
The US Navy is reported to be seeking a proven small-to-medium warship that can be built rapidly and in volume.
The ship must be able to escort convoys and operate independently, with anti-submarine and anti-surface capabilities.
Japan's Mogami-class, South Korea's Chungnam-class, and Turkey's Istif-class have been identified as other contenders.
A presidential memorandum issued on August 13 requires a foreign supplier to build or take a majority stake in a US shipyard and to construct every ship after the first two in the US.
The supplier must also licence its shipbuilding technologies to the US yards and develop an American workforce and supply chain. Changes to the mature parent design require cabinet-level approval.
The Babcock proposal is derived from the Royal Danish Navy’s Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate and forms the basis of the Royal Navy's five 5,700-tonne, 138.7-metre Type 31 frigates under construction at Rosyth.
The new competition follows the US Navy's decision last November to terminate four Constellation-class frigates. Work continues on the first two ships of the latter class at Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Wisconsin.
