A lot of the news reporting this week has been focussed on the defence cooperation treaty the UK and Australian defence ministers signed and how it might relate to the Royal Navy’s planned Type 26 Global Combat Ship.

Exportability was always one of the central design drivers in the Type 26 so this is the fruit of that initial thinking. Unfortunately the UK does not have a happy recent history in complex warship building and although the QE Class carrier build programme is marching on at a steady pace there is still a lot of ground to recover. I am sure the Royal Australian Navy will be thinking about their trials and tribulations with HMAS Choules..

Phil Hammond said;

Areas of potential co-operation include future frigates, with the Royal Navy’s Type 26 design, a cutting-edge blueprint that could be the first of many opportunities for future collaboration. In times of budget pressures for all nations, it makes sense to maximise economies of scale and work with our friends to get the best value for money on all sides

What the final shape of such cooperation ends up being is open to discussion, everything from selling complete ships, sub system or design sharing seems possible but we will be seeing more of this as countries seek to maximise their investments in complex military equipment.

Australia has a well developed naval design, development, manufacturing and support infrastructure, a growing economy but several defence and defence funding challenges.

Read more about the Type 26 here

What do people think will be the final shape of such co-operation as it relates to the Type 26 and what implications are there for both countries?