Monday June 23, 2001
Geoff Hoon, defence secretary, hit back on Friday at speculation about Labour's commitment to defence spending by confirming plans for two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy.
The government had decided to order the ships - the biggest British naval vessels to be built since the second world war - as a central plank of its strategic defence review in 1998.
Budgetary pressures on the services led to speculation during the election campaign that the Ministry of Defence's commitment was waning.
But Mr Hoon told the Commons: "This government is fully committed to the carriers . . . they will deliver a formidable force projection capability."
The carriers are due to enter service in 2012 and 2015, replacing Invincible, Illustrious and Ark Royal. At between 40,000 and 50,000 tons, they will be at least double the size of their predecessors and carry 50 aircraft each.
The cost of the ships is expected to be GBP2.6bn excluding aircraft, most of which are likely to be Joint Strike Fighters.
In January, Mr Hoon announced that GBP1.3bn would be committed to the next phase of the US aircraft's development.
But some doubts linger because of the US review of defence programmes.
Companies involved in JSF believe the Pentagon has recommended that the US go ahead with the $100bn (GBP71bn) project, intended to equip the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps as well as the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.
British groups are involved in JSF, but if the ground-breaking transatlantic programme were dropped, altered or delayed, the MoD might consider the US F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, France's Rafale or even a version of Eurofighter.
The Bristol-based Defence Procurement Agency is hoping to keep costs down by using the carrier project as a flagship for its own radical reforms.
It brought in Ali Baghaei, an Iranian-born marine engineer, as the first project leader to be appointed from private industry. Mr Baghaei is overseeing a competition between two potential prime contractors, BAE Systems and Thales of France, although BAE has suggested that the MoD should abandon the contest unless it is prepared adequately to fund the costs of both contestants until a choice is made in 2003.
Whichever company wins, the ships will be built in Britain. Shipyards have been measuring out spaces in which such large warships could be built.
Despite Mr Hoon's affirmation experts believe there are still many hurdles to cross. Two former senior officials, Sir Michael Alexander and Sir Timothy Garden, argued in an article that the costs of defence equipment were rising faster than inflation and "the consequences of the arithmetic seem inescapable . . . There can be little chance . . . that the carriers . . . will ever be built".
The chief of defence staff, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, has said the armed forces cannot continue to carry out the tasks demanded of them without more money.