Welcome to Keep Our Future Afloat Campaign (KOFAC)councilportal.cumbria.gov.uk/documents/s39711/Appendix 2... · 2018. 10. 5. · • To also highlight the socioeconomic and defence

Keep Our Future Afloat - Strategy & Action Plan, 2013 - 2015

Welcome to Keep Our Future Afloat Campaign (KOFAC)Formed in March 2004, the trade union and community-led, non-political Keep OurFuture Afloat Campaign (KOFAC) seeks to sustain the core workload at BarrowShipyard which builds nuclear powered submarines and designs surface warships. Specific aims are to:

• Sustain and grow jobs in naval shipbuilding in north west England• Secure full utilisation of the unique assets found in the north west region’s navalshipbuilding industrial base and their supply chains

• Sustain naval ship/submarine design capability. 60% of UK’s total capability islocated in Barrow

It currently champions the business case for up to 4 ‘Successor’ to the VanguardClass strategic deterrent carrying submarines to be built and for delivery of 7 AstuteClass attack submarines to enable the Royal Navy to fulfil its national security tasks. The KOFAC Campaign has developed a unique approach towards influencing nationaldefence procurement policy using the expertise of UNITE, GMB, private sectorbusinesses, Community organisations, Barrow in Furness Borough Council andsecretariat, Furness Enterprise. We remain grateful for their support.

Terry Waiting, Chairman, Keep Our Future Afloat Campaign


KOFAC Action Plan 2013-15• To advance KOFAC’s mission distributing its messages efficiently.and toexplain the national security business case for 7 Astute Class attacksubmarines and up to 4 Successor to Vanguard Class submarines.

• To persuade Ministers and industry leaders of the need to sustain criticalcapability and skills in the naval shipbuilding and submarine industrial base sothat the Royal Navy can have the equipment and industrial through life supportit needs.

• To also highlight the socioeconomic and defence risks associated withworkload gaps.

• Influence the foreign policy led 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review

• Promote opportunities for Barrow shipyard to be used to support the delivery ofdesign, build, test and commissioning of large nuclear powered submarinesand complex warships.

• To continue to influence national trade unions policy so that they supportcontinued investment in nuclear powered ‘attack’ and nuclear powered‘strategic deterrent carrying’ submarine programmes.

• To help BAE Systems, and its supply chains promote the career opportunitiesthat high technology advanced shipbuilding systems engineering offers topeople of all ages.

• To attend the Annual Conferences of the party in power.

• To continue to undertake research and dialogue with intermediaries to enableKOFAC to progress its aims and objectives based on a sound policy andinformation base.

The KOFAC’s Secretariat Role Supporting KOFAC’s CampaignFurness Enterprise Executive as the KOFAC Secretariat, acts as the accountablebody for the management of the KOFAC Campaign finances.

• The Secretariat undertakes research, delivers targeted information provision,PR and other actions that help support the KOFAC Committee in its work

• The Keep Our Future Afloat Campaign is non-political. It aims to influence allpolitical parties’ policy on defence procurement and industry leaders.


Core Messages from KOFAC

1) The first duty of government is to ensure the security of Britain andits people.

2) Except in the USA and UK the idea of eliminating nuclear weaponshas not been proposed or seriously considered by nuclear weaponsstates.

3) Unilateral disarmament will not encourage other nations to disarm.Britain has reduced its nuclear arsenal but this has not led to otherstates to cease improving their nuclear inventions.

4) In an uncertain world where nuclear weapons exist as long asnuclear weapons exist there is a need to retain a strong, safe, secureand reliable nuclear deterrent.

5) There is no other ‘cost effective’ value for money affordablealternative to Successor submarine deterrent capability as a meansof maintaining the UK’s minimum credible nuclear deterrent. Asubmarine launched ballistic missile system offers invulnerabilityrange and endurance, credibility of the ultimate safeguard of ournational security.

6) CASD must be maintained in the interests of national security.

7) Equipping ASTUTE submarines with nuclear armed cruise missiles isnot an option due to cost and technical challenges.

8) The Successor programme drumbeat, cut of steel in 2016 must bemaintained.

9) Delay, risks, added cost, loses skills.

10) 13,000+ jobs are at risk in the supply chain in the UK, so this is anissue that is vitally important for the whole of the submarine industrialbase and the communities that surround each company with it.

Barrow could not adjust to an ending of submarine orders. Since the1960s the community has uniquely entered into a contract with UKgovernment to deliver the strategic protection of the nation.

Barrow ShipyardBarrow shipyard since 1958 has managing the design, construction andcommissioning of nuclear powered submarines for the Royal Navy. It is theUK’s only site integrating the detailed design, build, test and commissioning ofnuclear reactors.

BAE Systems Maritime Submarines is UK’s submarine centre of excellence, part ofBritain’s submarine enterprise.

Between 1992 and 2002, the Barrow workforce was reduced from 13,000 to 2,900.Since 2003, the UK government’s commitment to the submarine programme hasenabled a vibrant investment in nuclear capability at Barrow. Since 2004 whenemployment was as low as 2,900 it has regrown to over 5,400.

£250m each year in wages goes into the local economy.

‘Artful’, boat 3 of the Astute Class, has the 28th nuclear power plant to be constructedand commissioned at Barrow.

Barrow Shipyard and DDH dominate the urban area


Successor Deterrent is…• Potentially a 4 Boat fleet bigger than the Vanguard Class Submarine• With a new pwr3 reactor • To be delivered by 2028 with first steel cut 2016• It will deliver 1000 new jobs at Barrow taking employment over 6,000• 60% of the boat will be made by the supply chain all over UK • A credible deterrent at the lowest possible cost - The cost is £11-15b• A national endeavour on a scale bigger than the Olympics or HS2 supporting13,000 British jobs, made by a vast flotilla of companies

• Potentially able to deliver £4.2b of benefit to the Furness Economy

It’s a Stimulus for National security and economic prosperity. Successor is part of ournational security strategy. It delivers continuous at-sea deterrence patrols underOperation Relentless which have been operating without pause since 1969. It is theUK’s most enduring military operation.

There is a strategic national need for a continuously at sea strategic deterrent fleet.Britain and America have a common policy that seeks to ensure “as long as these(nuclear weapons) exist… we will maintain a safe secure and effective arsenal to deterany adversary and guarantee that defence to our allies.”1

1 President Obama, April 5th, 2009Keep Our Future Afloat - Strategy & Action Plan, 2013 - 2015

Successor DeterrentWhy it’s needed…

On 17th January 2013 the Defence Minister Philip Dunne said:

“A submarine-launched ballistic missile system offers invulnerability, range andendurance. All promote the credibility of this ultimate safeguard for national security.

It is a sobering fact that, although our nuclear arsenal, like those of our allies andRussia, has reduced significantly since the early 1990s, the reductions have notencouraged states that are seeking a nuclear weapon capability to cease theirattempts to cross the nuclear threshold.

A ‘like-for-like’ replacement is needed to counter the possibility of a major direct threatto the UK re-emerging.

Threats have not gone away, as long as nuclear weapons exist, we need to retain astrong, safe, secure and reliable nuclear deterrent”.

Except in the United States and the United Kingdom, the idea of eliminating nuclearweapons has not been proposed and seriously considered in the capitals of any of thenuclear weapons states. France, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea haveshown no inclination to accept the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons.

Indeed, Russia, China, India, and Pakistan are all embarked on major nuclearweapons modernisation programs.

In such a world, we will continue to need a viable and effective nuclear deterrent toprevent nuclear attack or nuclear blackmail.

Russia is deploying a new generation of inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs),and is contemplating building a second new type - a giant Cold War throwback in the“heavy” ICBM class.


Keep Our Future Afloat - Strategy & Action Plan, 2013 - 2015Keep Our Future Afloat - Strategy & Action Plan, 2013 - 2015

TIME NOW

13,000 jobs depend on Britain’s Submarine EnterpriseBAE Systems Submarines have recently signed a “Foundation Contract” withMoD for submarine design and build.

Key elements of the contract are:• Enables BAE to collaborate with Rolls Royce and Babcock Marine;• Defines BAE’s role in the Submarine Enterprise;• Commits BAE to professional and transparent leadership;• Commits BAE to savings.

Britain’s Submarine Programme

Submarines and DeterrentThe Government’s Defence Equipment Plan 2012 states that, “We plan to invest around £35.8b in submarines and our nuclear deterrentprogrammes over the next ten years.

This covers all costs relating to the submarines themselves, nuclear propulsion costsand the costs of the strategic weapon system.

This includes:• The completion of the remainder of the class of 7 Astute attacksubmarines;

• Design, development and production of the replacement for theVanguard class ballistic missile submarines, assuming that MainGate approval is obtained in 2016;

• The ongoing costs of managing and maintaining the strategicweapon system, both missiles and warheads.”

Source: Extract from Defence Equipment Plan 2012, page 16, MoD



KOFAC’s Vision for 2020• To realise Barrow’s untapped potential identified by Rand Europe in 2005and provide the mainstay of employment in Furness, offering good wagesand employment prospects;

• To continue to be the centre of excellence in nuclear powered submarinedesign, build, test and commissioning with a firm drumbeat of ordersthrough to the 2030s;

• To become a designer and builder of large complex surface warships.

The Trade Union View

Frontline jobs, skills and investmentHugh Scullion puts the case for the renewal of Vanguard submarinesExtracts from Tribune 19th April 2013

Whatever the outcome of the next general election, the next government will have to makean important decision regarding the future of Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent.

Annual running costs will amount to around £1.5 billion. This is 5 per cent of the Ministryof Defence’s budget, around 0.135 per cent of Britain’s gross domestic product.

…wider economic benefits that a renewal of the Vanguard class of submarines would bring.

…invested in both large businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)throughout the country.

…beneficiary of renewal. But these benefits would be spread throughout the UnitedKingdom: from nuclear reactors in the East Midlands, to the maintenance base in thesouth-west of England, to warhead production in the south east, to shore infrastructurein Scotland.

…a domestic supply chain that covers SMEs in virtually every parliamentary constituencyin Britain. We are talking about thousands of parts, creating thousands of jobs.

…state-of-the-art technology.

…a highly-skilled labour force cannot be switched on and off like a tap. The NuclearEducation Trust believes…

Parliament could also decide to delay the main-gate decision beyond 2016 byextending the lifespan of the current Vanguard class submarines.

…a significant gap in production…

The Nuclear Education Trust has pointed out that this option would result in the loss of4,000 jobs in Barrow alone.

Advocates of the alternatives must show how their ideas will improve prospects for thejobs, skills and investment for the thousands of companies in the supply chain throughoutthe country, as well as in Barrow. It would be a disservice to UK plc if it was not.


The Submarine Supply Chain has been optimisedThe submarine enterprise has been optimised in terms of its size andprogramme such that any small disruption to overall programme assumptionshas the potential for a dramatic impact on the business, which rapidly becomesunsustainable from a SQEP1 skills retention perspective. There are fewopportunities for diversification to mitigate any downturn or hiatus in demand.

It takes around 17 years to design and build a nuclear powered submarine:• If you don’t exercise your submarine design and capability;• If you don’t exercise those specialist submarine build techniques;• In short if you don’t build submarines regularly, you haemorrhage the capabilityto build submarines quickly and at a significantly greater cost.

Industrial capability cannot easily be replaced. It cannot be switched on or off, or laterreconstituted or adapted from capabilities drawn from other industries, in fact, ‘Thevalue of one additional boat, employing 2,000-3,000 people for 18-24 months is worthmore to Barrow than any combination of diversification possibilities’2.

Phillip Dunne MP, 28th March 2013 letter to KOFAC Secretariat“The Government’s policy remains as set out in the Strategic Defence and SecurityReview 2010, that we will maintain a continuous submarine-based deterrent and willbegin the work of replacing the Vanguard class submarines. The ministry of Defence istherefore continuing work on the assessment phase of the Successor submarineprogramme, to inform a Main Gate decision in 2016.

Since HMS Dreadnought was commissioned in 1963, Barrow has maintained a proudrecord of building nuclear submarines for the Royal Navy. Fifty years on Barrow haskept its mantle as the home of submarine building in the UK, and plays a unique role indelivering a capability that is vital in ensuring the security of our nation.

We have learnt from the problems that were caused by the loss of skills because of thelong gap between the build of the Vanguard and Astute classes, and we aredetermined to develop an efficient, coherent and sustainable submarine programmethrough the Submarine Enterprises Performance Programme (SEPP). Through SEPP,we are working with our key industrial partners, including BAE Systems Maritime -Submarines at Barrow, to ensure the long-term sustainability of the UK submarineindustry, and to provide a seamless transition between the Astute and Successorsubmarine programmes.”

Phillip Dunne MP, Minister for Defence, Equipment Support and Technology

1 Only suitably qualified and experienced people can work onnuclear submarines.

2 Barrow Shipyard Study for Barrow Task Force, by PA ConsultingGroup, September 2003 Keep Our Future Afloat - Strategy & Action Plan, 2013 - 2015


Every time asubmarine is ordered60 - 70% of the workis undertakenthroughout Britain byup to 1,200 supplierslocated in almostevery constituency inBritain. Across the UK there are…

• 109 companies in Scotland• 21 in Wales• 379 in the South East• 85 in the South West • 154 in the Midlands• 96 in the North East andYorkshire

• 31 in Merseyside• 308 in NW England• 93 are in Cumbria

At least 13,000jobs are at risk ifthe Successordeterrentsubmarines aredelayed or notbuilt.To sustain Britain’s capabilityto design and build nuclearsubmarines, acontinuous drumbeat oforders is needed.

A new Successor submarine fleet underpins our economic prosperityand national security until well beyond the 2060’s. It’s a four boatfleet, guarding against all eventualities, day and night, operating atsea continuously. Representing British manufacturing excellence, it’smade possible by around 1,200 companies located throughout theUK, employing 13,000 people. Successor is a catalyst for Britain’sindustrial and economic development from 2013 to 2030.

KEEP OUR FUTURE AFLOAT WWW.NAVALSHIPBUILDING.CO.UK

Documents

Welcome to Keep Our Future Afloat Campaign (KOFAC)councilportal.cumbria.gov.uk/documents/s39711/Appendix 2... · 2018. 10. 5. · • To also highlight the socioeconomic and defence