The government will spend £1.3 billion upgrading the UK’s Trident submarine base over the next 10 years. This money is not included in the budget for the Dreadnought submarine programme and is an additional cost, although much of the money is being spent on facilities to service the submarines. The spending was announced by the then Defence Secretary Michael Fallon last September at an event marking the 350th patrol by a nuclear armed UK submarine.
The bulk of the funds are being spent on three nuclear infrastructure projects: the Faslane Nuclear Infrastructure Continuous Availability Project, which will run from 2017 to 2027 and will cost £507 million; the Coulport Infrastructure Continuous Availability Project, will run from 2016 to 2030 and will cost £289 million; and the Faslane Nuclear Support Hub Project, which will run from 2017 to 2021 and will cost £76 million.
The other projects in the programme include training facilities, living accommodation, a facility dedicated to submarine escape and rescue, a rail-road transport point at Glen Douglas and a submarine support hub.