Future planning of the Royal Navy's capabilities is set through periodic Defence Reviews carried out by the UK Government.
In July 2024, the newly elected Labour Government launched a Strategic Defence Review, the results of which began to be released in the first half of 2025. The Secretary of State for Defence, John Healey, had been overseeing the review. However, he resigned on 11 June 2026, indicating his dissatisfaction with the Government's failure to provide adequate funding for defence. The Armed Forces Minister, Al Carns, also resigned at that time.
In November 2024, the government had announced some initial results of the review which involved the retirement of the Navy's Albion-class assault ships, one frigate as well as two Wave-class replenishment vessels from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary by March 2025. In June 2025, initial recommendations of the Strategic Defence Review were released, along with an announcement by the government that it would aim to incrementally increase the strength of the Royal Navy's fleet submarines to up to 12 boats starting in the latter 2030s. Full outcomes of the Government's planned Defence Investment Plan (DIP) began to be released in late June 2026.
In 2020, a plan had been announced to construct a new class of frigate, the Type 32 frigate, with five vessels envisaged and likely entering service starting in the early 2030s, though many other details about the program were undecided, even following publication of the March 2021 defence white paper. The previous government planned to increase the Royal Navy's fleet to 24 frigates and destroyers, perhaps achieving that objective by the mid-2030s. However, this plan was abandoned in the 2026 DIP with the Type 32 being formally cancelled in favour of future drone vessels.
, the following major vessels are under construction: the final submarine of seven s; all four of the Dreadnought-class ballistic missile submarines, the first five of eight Type 26 frigates; and four of the five Type 31 frigates. And the first one of three fleet solid support ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
Funding outlook The National Audit Office (NAO) has, for a considerable period of time, described the Ministry of Defence's equipment plan as "unaffordable". As late as January 2021 the NAO reported that the Royal Navy had the largest shortfall of the three services at £4.3 billion over the 2020 to 2030 period. To address some of these gaps, in November 2020, Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the first outcome of the defence review by pledging increased funding in the range of £16.5 billion over four years to stabilise the defence budget and to provide new funding for space, cyber and research activities.
In March 2023, a further £5 billion in funding was announced as part of a defence policy "refresh" exercise to "help replenish and bolster vital ammunition stocks, modernise the UK's nuclear enterprise and fund the next phase of the AUKUS submarine programme". However, in December 2023 the NAO again described the MoD's defence plan for 2023–2033 as "unaffordable" and some £16.9 billion over budget. Forecast costs for the Navy were reported to have risen by £16.4 billion (or 41%). Spending decisions were expected to be made during the next spending review in 2024, at which point more funding might be allocated or other decisions taken. In April 2024, Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to increase defence spending to 2.5% of Gross domestic product (GDP) (or £81 billion) by 2030. The Labour Party pledged to raise defence spending to the same level, with the promise to reach 3% in the next Parliament. The same objective was maintained in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, though the Government now pledged to reach the 2.5% goal by 2027 and to devote 3.5% of GDP to "traditional defence spending" by 2035.
In October 2025, the MOD projected a £2 billion overspend of its budget in the 2025/26 financial year. Two months later, the Royal Navy announced it will reduce overseas training in the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East, such as the recent Carrier Strike Group 25 to the Pacific Ocean in 2025.
Spending on renewing the continuous at sea nuclear deterrent and other nuclear submarine programmes through the Defence Nuclear Enterprise is projected to increase to between 20% and 25% of the whole MOD budget in the late 2020s, putting cost pressure on other spending.
At the time of Healey's resignation in early June 2026, reports suggested the government was preparing to announce a £13.5 billion funding increase for the MOD over four years, though the MOD had requested an extra £28 billion. After Dan Jarvis replaced Healey as defence secretary, an additional £1.5 billion was added to the DIP prior to its unveiling, increasing total new funding to £15 billion.
Ships ordered or under construction
Royal Navy
The following is a list of vessels ordered, under construction or fitting out within the United Kingdom, and destined for the Royal Navy: Class Ship Pennant No. Builders Displacement Type Homeport Commissioning (planned) Notes Submarines S125 BAE Systems, Barrow-in-Furness 7,400 tonnes Fleet submarine Clyde Around 2028 - 2029 SSN-AUKUS class BAE Systems, Barrow-in-Furness ≥ 10,000 tonnes Fleet submarine Clyde Late 2030s Up to 12 planned. BAE Systems, Barrow-in-Furness 17,200 tonnes Ballistic missile submarine Clyde Early 2030s Valiant Warspite King George VI Frigates Type 26 F88 BAE Systems, Glasgow 7,700 tonnes Multi-mission frigate Devonport Late 2027 - early 2028 F89 From 2028 - 2029 F90 Type 31 F12 Babcock International, Rosyth 5,700 tonnes General-purpose frigate Portsmouth By 2029 F08 Early 2030s F11 F09 F10
Royal Fleet Auxiliary
The following is a list of vessels ordered for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary: Class Ship Pennant No. Builders Displacement Type Homeport Commissioning (planned) Notes Fleet Solid Support Ship Resurgent Harland & Wolff, BMT Group and Navantia UK ~ 39,000 tonnes Fleet Solid Support Ship Devonport 2031 Reliant Early 2030s Resourceful Early 2030s
Ships
Destroyers and frigates
From the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR - which set the total number of destroyers and frigates in the Royal Navy at 19 ships) up until the 2026 DIP, the replacement of the destroyers and frigates had been envisaged on a more or less one-for-one basis. In 2012, BAE Systems Naval Ships was awarded a contract to design the replacement, known as the Type 26 Global Combat Ship (GCS). It was planned that two variants of the class would be built: five general purpose frigates and eight anti-submarine warfare frigates. However, the 2015 Defence Review indicated that only eight Type 26 frigates would be built with the remaining five ships covered by a new class of lighter, flexible general purpose frigate, known as the Type 31e frigate or General Purpose Frigate (GPFF).
The slower than planned introduction of both the Type 26 and Type 31, coupled with the pending retirement dates for the Type 23, has meant a gradual reduction of Royal Navy frigate numbers to just five operational frigates by the end of 2025, together with six Type 45 destroyers. While the 2021 Defence White Paper had envisaged increasing the destroyer/frigate fleet in the 2030s to around 24 frigates and destroyers by introducing yet another class of frigate, the Type 32, this plan was formally cancelled in the 2026 DIP in favour of entirely new vessels. The DIP also cancelled the envisaged Type 83 destroyer as the replacement of the Type 45 destroyer.
The DIP envisages the procurement of "at least" six new "Common Combat Vessels" (CCV) to replace the current fleet of Type 45 destroyers in the 2030s. The CCVs are to be a 'Hybrid' warship, "coordinating uncrewed systems in the air, on the surface and under the sea to deliver more resilient air defence". They are to act as a "control hub for uncrewed systems - extending the Navy's reach, resilience and firepower without a proportional increase in crew or cost". The CCV is to operate along the still planned fleet of Type 26 and Type 31 frigates as well as new unmanned drones envisaged for procurement including: the Type 91 "uncrewed missile platform", Type 92 "uncrewed underwater sensing platform", Type 93 "Extra-Large Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle" and Type 94 "uncrewed sensor platform". However, the timing for the acquisition of all of these systems, and their introduction into service, remained unclear.
The introduction of more personnel efficient ships partially responds to the reality of the significant recruiting challenges that the navy is facing with a net drop of some 1,600 personnel (4 percent of the force) from mid-2022 to mid-2023. The cancellation of the expensive Type 83 and Type 32 platforms, and the complementary move to unmanned platforms, is also designed to assist in addressing ongoing funding pressures in naval procurement which were not addressed in the DIP to the satisfaction of Defence Secretary Healey as indicated in his resignation.NAO Report. The equipment plan 2022 to 2023 nao.org.uk
Uncrewed surface vessels & sensor platforms
In recent years the Royal Navy has examined varied options relation to the deployment and development of unmanned surface vessels. This has included the Maritime Autonomy Surface Testbed (MAST) 13 programs, a collaboration between Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and L3Harris Technologies employing the autonomous surface vessel Madfox. Other programs have focused on the development of autonomous minehunting capabilities to replace the Royal Navy's crewed mine countermeasures vessels.
The 2026 Defence Investment Plan placed a heavy emphasis on the acquisition of new autonomous systems. For the Royal Navy this is to involve the procurement of several vessel types: the Type 91 "uncrewed missile platform" ("to increase the firepower of the Hybrid Fleet"); the Type 92 "uncrewed underwater sensing platform" (or uncrewed Sloop "designed to hunt enemy submarines across the North Atlantic, supporting our new frigates"); and, the Type 94 "uncrewed sensor platform" (or uncrewed Radar picket vessel "designed to scan the skies for threats to the hybrid navy or the homeland").
Six Common Combat Vessels are envisaged to act as the "brain of a networked Maritime Air Defence system". The Royal Marines are also to be equipped with new high-speed boats and the "latest drone and autonomous technology". The DIP indicated that the first large autonomous vessels will be brought into service by 2030, including a prototype uncrewed missile platform with payloads developed through AUKUS.
Mine countermeasures and Hydrographic Capability (MHC)
The 2015 SDSR specified that only 12 mine-counter measure vessels were planned to exist in Joint Force 2025. The three oldest Sandown-class minehunters were decommissioned. At one point it was anticipated that the UK and France would collaborate on a Maritime Mine Counter Measures project. At DESI 2017, the First Sea Lord mentioned that the Royal Navy aimed to accelerate the incremental delivery of future mine countermeasures and hydrographic capability (MHC) programme.
All of these plans notwithstanding, in 2020 the parliamentary National Audit Office (NAO) noted that no funding had been allocated in the 2019 to 2029 period to replace the Navy's mine countermeasures capability. The 2021 defence white paper subsequently confirmed that all existing MCMV vessels would be phased out in the 2020s and replaced by autonomous systems.