MoD signs £3bn contracts for aircraft carriers

Contracts to build two new giant aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy were signed today. The contracts, worth in the region of £3bn, were signed with the newly-formed UK maritime Joint Venture, BVT Surface Fleet, and the Aircraft Carrier Alliance onboard HMS Ark Royal in Portsmouth, one of the Royal Navy's existing aircraft carriers and currently the Fleet Flagship. HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales will be the biggest and most powerful surface warships ever made in the UK. Their construction and assembly at shipyards in Portsmouth, Barrow-in-Furness, Govan and Rosyth will create or sustain 10,000 jobs across the UK, the Ministry of Defence said. The 65,000-ton carriers, which will carry a crew of about 1,500 and up to 40 aircraft, will enter service in 2014 and 2016. The ships will be built by the Aircraft Carrier... [read full story]