Posted on 07/15/2007 7:09:17 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Scots shipyards to share in £3.9bn super-vessels contract
BRIAN BRADY WESTMINSTER EDITOR (bdbrady@scotlandonsunday.com)
GORDON Brown is preparing to deliver a multi-billion-pound boost to his home nation, with confirmation that Scotland's shipbuilders will help to produce the biggest vessels ever ordered by the Royal Navy.
Scotland on Sunday can reveal that the Prime Minister is set to put an end to years of delay by announcing the decision on the construction of the two "super carriers" within the next few days.
In total, the contracts for both ships are worth £3.9bn.
Scottish shipyards will be awarded up to half of the lucrative construction work, senior government sources claimed last night - and Faslane is pencilled in as the home port for at least one of the vessels.
The contract will ensure work for 6,600 BAE Systems workers and 1,100 more at Babcock's Rosyth yard - with the prospect of more than 1,000 extra jobs in the industry. One MP last night claimed the announcement would guarantee thousands of Scottish shipbuilders jobs for the rest of their working lives.
Brown has been under mounting pressure to end the uncertainty over the landmark deal, amid warnings that further delays would put hundreds of skilled jobs in Scotland and around the country in jeopardy.
BAE Systems and Hampshire-based shipbuilders VT are poised to merge their interests if they win the contract, in a move that would funnel key construction and assembly work to Rosyth and BAE's Clyde base.
Brown's predecessor Tony Blair had hoped to set the seal on the enormous contract as part of his "legacy" to the nation but he was confounded by tortuous negotiations with the French over a cost-cutting collaboration on the design and construction of the 65,000-tonne vessels.
But defence insiders last night revealed that Brown was determined to sign off the contract and trigger the start of building work before MPs break for their summer holiday at the end of this month. He is believed to have highlighted the deal bringing economic benefits to workers in his own "back yard" as a key "statement of intent" during his first 100 days in Downing Street.
"The Prime Minister is as frustrated as everyone else about the delay in getting this deal signed off," a defence source confirmed last night. "But he has also made it clear, since he was Chancellor, that the financial platform has to be watertight before anything else can be confirmed.
"The judgment now is that it is all ready to go. The Scottish element was not a deciding factor, but the benefits that this arrangement will bring to Scotland are a tremendous bonus."
Confirmation of the impending deal comes days after industry sources warned that BAE and Babcock International feared that ship-designer jobs at their yards would be lost because there was not enough work for them. The Ministry of Defence had paid for the consortium to do design work on the carrier project, but the phase was almost at an end.
VT chief executive Paul Lester also warned that delaying approval for the project beyond this month would put back the delivery of the two carriers beyond the expected dates of 2012 and 2015.
The contract for the carriers is linked to plans by BAE and VT to merge their shipbuilding interests. But, while defence minister Lord Drayson has insisted the companies must formally agree their joint venture before the carrier order is placed, the firms insist they need a cast-iron guarantee the contract will be placed before going through with the merger.
In a move designed to keep the firms in line, Drayson said he was prepared to "play poker" with the consortium for as long as it took to get the best deal for taxpayers - but he insisted the carriers would be built.
A senior government insider last night said the BAE yards at Govan and Scotstoun would build between two and four of the huge modules for the ships, which would then be assembled at Rosyth. An ongoing review of Britain's biggest naval bases has underlined problems at Portsmouth and Devonport, in Plymouth, which effectively rule them out of hosting the completed carriers without extensive reconstruction work.
The conclusion is that Faslane, or HM Naval Base Clyde, is the most likely home port for the vessels, as well as Britain's fleet of new-generation nuclear submarines.
Glasgow MP Ian Davidson, who played a key role in saving the Clyde shipbuilding industry when it was under threat less than a decade ago, said the contract would help guarantee thousands of people jobs for the rest of their working lives.
"The capacity of the shipbuilding industry throughout the rest of the UK is not enough to build ships like this, so they will always need Scotland," he said. "Clyde is going to build at least two blocks for the ships, and even that will have a knock-on effect elsewhere, with sub-contracting work going to engineering firms in the area. The yards are ready to go and have already done some of the preparatory work required."
This article: http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1102642007
STOAL?
What’s wrong with a waist cat? That’s a silly design, in my opinion.
The fools sold the patent for the steam catapult to the Yanks back in the fifties. The British Navy couldn’t see a future for it...
Australia,if it buys the V/STOL variant of the JSF,will only buy a handful for operations off their (soon to be built) Spanish designed amphibious ships.These will be similar to the USMC variants & different from the Brit ones which are designed for ski-ramp takeoffs.
It uses gas turbines.
Thanks...would you perhaps know why the Brits decided NOT go build nuclear powered cariers?
My most recently read info on what F-35 variant Australia is buying looks like the Air Force version (land-based to replace F-18s) Not a carrier-based type.
Royal Australian Navy plans two new aircraft capable amphibious ships
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1362449/posts
This is what I was referring to.
Primarily higher construction costs,which have derailed many a Brit project.Even France,which built a nuclear powered carrier a decade ago,has decided that it’s sister ship(which will be built in cooperation with these 2 Brit ships) will have conventional power.
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