The Times from tomorrows edition:
"The Ministry of Defence may abandon plans to build new aircraft carriers as part of sweeping budget cuts and a long-awaited defence review, the chief executive of BAE Systems revealed yesterday.
Ian King told an influential committee of MPs that his company remained focused on producing two ships.
However, he added: “We have been asked to look at a number of options, recently asked over the last week or so... I think they range from having one carrier to no carriers but with an equivalent other programme.” He did not elaborate on what such a programme would entail.
The £5.2 billion contract to build two carriers is providing work for 10,000 employees at six construction sites around the country. Clauses within the contract mean that it would be almost as expensive to scrap as to maintain but, in the long term, cancellation would save on maintenance or the cost of fitting them with a new fleet of jets.
Raymond Duguid, a union member at the dockyard in Rosyth, near Edinburgh, where the two carriers are due to be assembled, said that any reduction in the project would be a blow for the workforce. “The carriers are just one job but they do give stability to the yard,” he told The Times.
Critics argue that the carriers are a waste of money at a time when the MoD’s over-spent budget should focus more on soldiers and smaller ships.
The Times revealed last week that Britain and France are preparing to announce a deal to share aircraft carrier capabilities as part of a wider plan to co-operate on defence. Such a move would enable both countries, the largest military powers in Europe, to maximise their strength at a lower cost. Requiring three times more steel than Wembley Stadium, the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers will each have a crew of 679, (1,600 if air staff are included) and should last 50 years.
MPs on the Defence Select Committe also heard from the head of ADS Group, a trade organisation representing Britain’s aerospace, defence and security industries.
Rear Admiral Rees Ward said he feared that the Strategic Defence and Security Review, to determine Britain’s military and diplomatic role, could be at odds with the Government’s spending review, putting 300,000 jobs at risk."
They have to come up with a , short term less expensive, way of putting an air group on the QE, or risk having the Carrier cancelled. If that happens RAF will certainly not get STOVL F35B either...