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<p>It is not possible to identify a single unit cost for an Astute Class submarine
as Boats one to three (Astute, Ambush, and Artful) were contracted as a batch, with
the rest of the class subject to separate contractual arrangements. However, as an
example of the main costs involved, the whole-boat contract for Agincourt, the seventh
and last boat in the class, announced in May 2018, was £1.5 billion. This covers the
totality of work involved in the boat build, including test and commissioning. The
procurement costs include initial support provisioning, however, in-service support
costs of a submarine will vary with the individual platform material state. These
costs form part of wider submarine maintenance contracts and are not easily identifiable
separately and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.</p>
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