Smash hit

With yesterday’s signing ceremony, the Government agreed with the Navy that when it comes to carriers, size matters. Admiral Band said that jumping from the 20,000-tonne Invincible Class carriers, such as HMS Ark Royal, to the giant 65,000-tonne warships would provide greater flexibility and power-projection capability.

Baroness Taylor of Bolton, the Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, signed for the MoD and Alan Johnston, chief executive officer of the newly formed BVT Surface Fleet company, a joint venture combining BAE Systems and the VT Group, added his signature to the contract.

The press release issued for the occasion referred to the “£3 billion” contract, but Lady Taylor acknowledged later that the total cost, taking into account inflation estimates and other risk factors, was actually £3.9 billion. The two carriers, to be named HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, will come into service in 2014 and 2016 respectively.

Lady Taylor admitted there had been doubts in the minds of some people that the programme would ever come to fruition. She said it had taken ten years from the original concept, announced in the 1998 Strategic Defence Review, to put in place the industrial structure to build the huge warships.

Asked about the cost and whether it was justified, Admiral Band said that although the present focus was on two land campaigns - Iraq and Afghanistan - it was vital to invest in the future, 15 or 20 years ahead, and he envisaged carriers playing a crucial role in projecting power and protecting Britain’s global interests.

The ships will be built at Barrow-in-Furness, Portsmouth, Govan in Glasgow and Rosyth in Fife, creating 10,000 jobs at the peak of the programme in about 2011.

Mr Johnston said that the vessels would be built in huge blocks and then taken by barge to Rosyth, where they would be assembled.

He said he was confident that they would be built “on time and at cost”. Lady Taylor said that there were incentives for BVT to construct the ships for less than the £3.9 billion price, and she did not envisage that the programme would go over this figure.

As well as the £3.9 billion, another £12 billion will be spent on providing the ships with Joint Strike Fighters - 36 on each. These are being developed in a joint Anglo-American programme, although it is so delayed that Queen Elizabethwill have to come into service equipped with the older-generation Harrier GR9 jump-jet aircraft.

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