MOD Responds to HCDC Report on Future Aircraft Carriers

(Source: UK Ministry of Defence; issued Dec. 21, 2005)

The Ministry of Defence has this week responded to a report on the planned future aircraft carriers, and the aircraft that will operate from them, published by the House of Commons Defence Committee.

Many of the issues raised in the report were dealt with directly in an announcement made by Secretary of State for Defence, John Reid last week which outlined significant progress on the project, including:

–The current carrier Alliance team of MoD, BAE Systems, Thales and KBR, is to be joined by VT Group and Babcock.

–Plans for the construction and assembly of the ships at Alliance members’ yards have been agreed.

–MoD is to spend some £300M to develop the design of the ships to the point at which manufacturing can begin.

MOD will now work with industry to finalise the programme budget, set a construction timetable and to establish in-service dates. When we have completed this work we can then commit to the manufacture of the project with the highest degree of confidence in our plans.

The tenets of Smart Procurement, and common sense, dictate that we deal with all potential issues and risk in a project before we leap into huge investment decisions and announce project timescales. This approach – spending more time and money upfront – improves our confidence that the manufacturing of this important defence capability will better kept to budget and time. As John Reid has made clear, the overall cost of the project and the target in service dates will not be announced until the main investment point is reached.

The MOD recognises the importance of technology transfer in ensuring that the UK has the sovereign capability to operate, programme, maintain and upgrade the proposed Joint Strike Fighter throughout its planned life. The UK already has the information it needs at this stage of programme, and has made the US aware of the progress that needs to be made ahead of the next milestone on the project, a memorandum of understanding on production, sustainment and follow-on development, due in 2006.

The MOD refutes any suggestion that the new carrier programme means that the Royal Navy will have less-capable ships in the interim. We believe our in-service equipment is already world-class and, as John Reid said as part of the announcement on the new carriers last week:

“Alongside this, I am announcing our intention of asking the alliance to put forward one integrated plan: not only to maintain the new carriers but to look after the existing carriers until they go out of service. By getting the same people to commit to maintain the existing carriers until the new ones are ready to go we will ensure there is a continuity of capability for the Royal Navy.”