Two new aircraft carriers, each of them the size of the QE2, will enter service within the next 10 years, ministers confirmed on Wednesday, portraying the navy as winners in a tight defence spending settlement.
The 65,000 tonne ships, to be built at four shipyards around the country, will form the vanguard of Britain’s defence capability and should allow the UK to take on worldwide missions well into the future.
However, French hopes of a significant role in construction of the vessels have been dashed. Senior defence officials said that, after negotiations between London and Paris, none of the main blocks would be built in France.
The announcement coincided with a merger of the shipbuilding assets of BAE Systems and VT Group, which will have lead roles in building the carriers.
It came as Des Browne, the defence secretary, secured a 1.5 per cent average annual real terms increase in his department’s budget for the three years covered by the forthcoming comprehensive spending review.
The Ministry of Defence said the settlement amounted to an extra £7.7bn by 2011. However, defence’s share of the public spending cake would continue to shrink and officials conceded that “at the margins of our programme there might be some changed priorities”.
Mr Browne said the £3.9bn carrier order would lead to the construction of the largest vessels ever sailed by the navy and safeguard 10,000 jobs in shipyards across the country – including at Clyde, Portsmouth and Barrow.
Called HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, the first of the two ships is due to enter service in 2014 and the second in 2016. They will house 40 aircraft each, including, it is planned, 36 F-35 joint strike fighters.
Gordon Brown, the prime minister, described the contract as a “major project” for the shipbuilding industry. A number of companies will share the work. The ships will be built in sections and assembled at the Rosyth naval base in Fife.
BAE Systems and VT Group, members of the industry alliance – including Babcock and France’s Thales – that will design and build the carriers, on Wednesday outlined plans for a joint venture combining their yards at Glasgow, Filton and Portsmouth.
The venture would lead to “significant cost savings” and make the naval industry more competitive in export markets, said BAE.
According to Mr Browne, it would enable the navy “to support the fleet in the future while retaining all three of our existing naval bases at Portsmouth, Devonport and Faslane”.
There would be “some reductions” in the 17,800 personnel employed at the three bases.
Lord Drayson, the defence equipment minister, said new working practices would be introduced, but insisted the bases would not be “salami-sliced”. There had been fears Portsmouth would close.
The carriers form a big part of the Ministry of Defence’s spending settlement, which includes £550m for upgrading barracks. Officials conceded the department would have liked a bigger annual rise, but said the government was constrained on spending.
Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, welcomed the news, but said that it came at “a high price” for the navy which had “faced significant cuts in force levels”.
