Britain OKs plan to build two carriers

[unhappycamper]

Britain OKs plan to build two carriers
By Andrew Chuter - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday May 21, 2008 6:14:10 EDT

LONDON — The British government has officially given the go-ahead to a 3.9 billion pound ($7.6 billion) program to build two aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy. The first of the warships is planned to be in service in 2014.

Confirmation for the program to proceed will trigger the creation of a joint venture pulling together the surface warship yards of BAE Systems and the VT Group. The two companies agreed to merge the two BAE yards on the Clyde in Scotland with VT’s Portsmouth facility in southern England in mid-2007, but completion of the deal was contingent on the government here confirming that the CVF carrier program would enter the production phase.

The joint venture will be Britain’s only major surface warship builder.

The future of the two 65,000-ton aircraft carriers had been in doubt for months as the Ministry of Defence sought to balance its books in the face of a potentially significant budget overspend.

VT CEO Paul Lester signaled that the program was about to be approved when he told reporters last week at the company’s annual results briefing that the government had informed them approval was imminent. Lester said at the time it would take between four and five weeks to complete the merger deal once the government had informed them it was proceeding with the program.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/05/defense_carrier_UK_052008/