Rolls-Royce

United Kingdom: Rolls‑Royce is part of a joint venture in the United Kingdom to develop Successor, a new class of nuclear-armed submarine. It is also involved in the maintenance of the existing fleet of Vanguard-class nuclear-armed submarines.

Company Profile

Rolls‑Royce, based in the United Kingdom, provides integrated power systems for use on land, at sea and in the air. The company’s main business divisions are Civil Aerospace, Defence Aerospace, Marine and Energy.[i]

In the financial year ending 31 December 2012, Rolls‑Royce generated revenues of £ 12.1 billion (€ 14.8 billion), resulting in an operating profit of £ 1.4 billion (€ 1.7 billion) and a net profit of £ 2.3 billion (€ 2.8 billion).[ii]

Nuclear weapons

Rolls-Royce has been involved in the development and maintenance of the current fleet of nuclear-armed Vanguard class submarines of the Royal Navy. The company is responsible for the development of nuclear-powered engines.[iii]

Together with Babcock Marine and BAE Systems, the marine division of Rolls-Royce launched the Future Submarines (FSM) project in 2007. The goal of this project is the development of “Successor”, a new class of nuclear missile submarines for the Royal Navy, replacing the current Vanguard class submarines armed with Trident nuclear ballistic missiles.

In May 2012, contracts valued at £ 350 million (€ 435 million) were allocated to the three companies by the British government. The contract with Rolls-Royce, which is responsible for the integration of the reactor design, has a value of over £ 4 million (more than € 5 million).[iv] In June 2012, Rolls-Royce was granted a £ 1.1 billion (€ 1.36 billion) contract by the British Ministry of Defence for submarine nuclear reactor cores (£ 600 million) for both the current Astute class as well as the next generation submarines, and for industrial investment in the Raynesway plant that manufactures them (£ 500 million).[v]



[i]         Rolls-Royce, “About: Group overview”, WebsiteRolls-Royce (www.rolls-royce.com/about/index.jsp), viewed May 2013.

[ii]         Rolls-Royce, “Annual Report 2012”,Rolls-Royce, 13 February 2013 (www.rolls-royce.com/Images/rolls_royce_annual_report_2012_tcm92-44211.pdf).

[iii]        Rolls Royce, “Submarines”, Website Rolls Royce (www.rolls-royce.com/marine/about/market_sectors/submarines/), viewed May 2013; Naval Technology, “SSBN Vanguard Class”, Website Naval Technology (www.naval-technology.com/projects/vanguard/), viewed May 2013.

[iv]        Needham, L., “50 years in submarine propulsion”, Rolls Royce In-depth, issue 13, 2008 (www.rolls-royce.com/Images/In-depth13_tcm92-23311.pdf); UK Ministry of Defence, “Successor Submarine Programme”, Ministry of Defence informative aan UK Parliament, 22 mei 2012 (www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-vote-office/May_2012/22-05-12/2.Defence-Successor-submarine-programme.pdf).

[v]         Defense Industry Daily, “New Nukes: Britain’s Next-Gen Missile Submarines”, Website Defense Industry Daily, last updated 20 March 2013 (www.defenseindustrydaily.com/new-nukes-britains-next-gen-missile-submarines-07432/).