The U.K. Ministry of Defence Thursday signed contracts to procure two aircraft carriers for roughly $5.9 billion, the MoD said.
Contractors receiving the awards included the joint venture BVT Surface Fleet (involving VT Group and BAE Systems), and the Aircraft Carrier Alliance.
In detail, the contracts provide:
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$2.6 billion for building giant sections of both ships by BVT Surface Fleet at Govan on the Clyde and Portsmouth;
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$595 million to build giant sections of the ships at the BAE Systems yard at Barrow-in-Furness;
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$1.3 billion for the bow section and final assembly and completion of the ships by Babcock Marine, with assembly taking place at Rosyth;
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$842.9 million for design and engineering for Thales UK; and
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$545.4 million for design and supply of mission systems for BAE Systems Integrated Systems Technologies (Insyte).
These carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, will be far larger than the current 689-foot Invincible-class British carriers. The Queen Elizabeth-class will stretch 931 feet from bow to stern, not much short of the 1,092 feet in the American Nimitz-class.
However, the difference in price is immense. The QE Class, at $5.9 billion for two carriers, is far less than the roughly $7.5 billion for one ship, the next-generation U.S. Navy carrier, the Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) being built by Northrop Grumman [NOC]. That price for CVN-78 doesn’t include about $6 billion to $7 billion in development costs for the first ship. (It will have a hull similar to carriers in the existing Nimitz class.)
Another difference is that the Nimitz and Ford-class carriers are far heavier, 97,000 to 100,000 tons, compared to the 65,000 tons of the QE-class.
While the two U.K. carriers initially will be outfitted for jump-jet takeoffs, in the British Royal Navy tradition, the new U.K. carriers are so large that they could someday be equipped with catapults for American-style carrier takeoffs.
Aircraft that will operate from the carriers include a version of the American F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) called the Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing, or STOVL, plane, which also will be purchased by the U.S. Marine Corps. The MoD is helping to finance development of the JSF, and then is expected to purchase the planes. Building the JSF are prime contractor Lockheed Martin [LMT], along with Northrop Grumman and BAE playing major roles, each firm building a large portion of each plane.
“The two aircraft carriers will provide our forces with the world-class capabilities they will need over the coming decades,” said British Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne. “They will support peace-keeping and conflict prevention, as well as our strategic operational priorities.”
Aside from providing huge revenue streams for the defense contractors, the carrier contracts also ensure a huge employment base important to labor groups.
“Today’s contract signing seals the future for thousands of jobs, and ensures that we will have a Royal Navy fit for the 21st century,” Browne said.
“Construction work will create or sustain around 10,000 jobs (in the United Kingdom) at the peak of production,” said Baroness Taylor, minister for defence equipment and support.
She expects the first steel to be cut later this year for the carriers, which she said will be the biggest and most powerful surface warships ever constructed in the UK.
The contracts were signed onboard HMS Ark Royal, a Royal Navy aircraft carrier that is the Fleet Flagship. Once the carriers enter service in 2014 and 2016, respectively, they are expected to remain in the fleet for at least 30 years, and perhaps much longer.