Global Combat Ship

BAE Systems design concept in late 2015
Class overview
Name:	Global Combat Ship
Builders:	BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships
Operators:	Royal Navy
Preceded by:	Type 23 frigate
Cost:	£8bn programme cost (2016 est.)
Built:	From summer 2017 (planned)
In service:	Mid-2020s (planned)
Planned:	8
General characteristics
Type:	Anti-submarine warfare
Displacement:	6,900 t (6,800 long tons; 7,600 short tons), 8,000+ t full load
Length:	149.9 m (492 ft)
Beam:	20.8 m (68 ft)
Propulsion:	CODLOG configuration: Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbine Four MTU diesel generators Two electric motors
Speed:	In excess of 26 kn (48 km/h; 30 mph)
Range:	In excess of 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km) in Electric-Motor (EM) drive
Complement:	118 (capacity for 208)
Sensors and processing systems:	Type 997 Artisan 3D radar Kelvin Hughes Ltd SharpEye navigation radar Sonar 2087 (towed array sonar) Type 2050 bow sonar SCOT-5 satcom
Electronic warfare & decoys:	IRVIN-GQ DLF decoys
Armament:	Anti-air missiles: VLS canisters for a total of 48: CAMM missiles (range 1–25+ km) Strike-length VLS: 24-cell strike-length Mk 41 VLS for possible: Tomahawk, ASROC and LRASM Guns: 1 × BAE 5 inch 62-calibre Mk 45 naval gun 2 × 30 mm DS30M Mk2 guns 2 × Phalanx CIWS 2 × miniguns 4 × general purpose machine guns
Aircraft carried:	Accommodation for two helicopters: Wildcat, armed with; 4 × anti-ship missiles, or 2 × anti-submarine torpedoes Westland Merlin, armed with; 4 × anti-submarine torpedoes
Aviation facilities:	Large flight deck Enclosed hangar Facilities for UAVs
Notes:	Flexible mission bay

The Global Combat Ship (GCS) is a ship design and manufacture programme of the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom, to partially replace the thirteen Type 23 frigates of the Royal Navy and for export. The Royal Navy variant is known as the Type 26 frigate. It will be multi-mission warship designed to support anti-submarine warfare, air defence and general purpose operations.

The programme began in 1998, under what was then known as the Future Surface Combatant (FSC). However, by March 2010, this procurement programme had evolved to become the Global Combat Ship, following the announcement of a four-year, £127 million design contract being awarded to BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships. The design passed Main Gate 1 in early 2015, with the Demonstration Phase starting 1 April 2015. In August 2015 the first long lead items for Type 26 were ordered, with manufacturing then expected to begin in 2016 and the first Type 26 to be delivered in 2023. In November 2016 it was announced that first steel would be cut for the eight Royal Navy ships in summer 2017. They will be built at BAE Systems' Govan and Scotstoun yards on the River Clyde in Glasgow.

The Global Combat Ship started development under the original Future Surface Combatant (FSC) programme intended to replace the Royal Navy's Type 22 and Type 23 frigates. Planning for a replacement escort vessel started in 1998 with the ordering of a research vessel, the RV Triton, to study whether a trimaran design was practical for such a large and complex vessel. However, by the early 2000s it was apparently obvious the Royal Navy favoured more conventional designs. In March 2005, plans were released for a two-class solution, a cheaper "Medium Sized Vessel Derivative" entering service in 2016–19 and a more capable "Versatile Surface Combatant" entering service around 2023.