How should Britain improve the Royal Navy's building program?
Short answerIncrease orders while investing in yard capacity, but do not assume complex uncrewed combatants can be built like simple commercial craft.
NotesMore orders and broader use of yards for large uncrewed surface vessels require capacity to grow first. Redundant machinery and survivability still matter without a crew aboard. Towed-array sonar, VLS, and radar add technically complex systems. Planning therefore has to distinguish straightforward construction from the complexity of the equipment the ship must carry.