Aircraft Carriers (Hansard, 6 April 1998)

§ 3. Mr. Lindsay Hoyle (Chorley)
If he will make a statement on fixed-wing aircraft carriers.[36259]

§ The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. George Robertson)
The requirement for aircraft carriers has been considered as part of the strategic defence review but final decisions have yet to be taken.

§ Mr. Hoyle
I welcome that answer. Obviously, there is hope for a fixed-wing aircraft carrier, which would be a major shot in the arm for British shipbuilding and allow us to consider Eurofighter as a Fleet Air Arm variant, which would also bring benefit to British Aerospace.

§ Mr. Robertson
That would be considered further down the line, if a decision in principle is taken on aircraft carriers. I saw HMS Invincible coming into Portsmouth last week at the end of a tour in the Gulf and could not but feel proud at the role of the ship's crew and of the embarked Royal Air Force Harriers. They certainly played a substantial part in obliging Saddam Hussein to back down from his confrontation with the United Nations. The issue is deeply important involving not only the, construction of aircraft carriers but the decision about what aircraft are to go on them.

§ Mr. Menzies Campbell (North-East Fife)
In order to learn proper lessons for the future, would it not be honest to acknowledge that we only just escaped the serious political and military embarrassment in the Gulf of a British aircraft carrier being unable to operate effectively in combat because of restrictions on the GR7 Harrier aircraft as a result of the climate?
Do not the lessons of the past six months teach us that, if Invincible, Illustrious and Ark Royal are to be replaced, there should be three new vessels? To ensure that they are fully effective, is it not necessary to ensure in turn that the aircraft carried are capable of operating in all climatic conditions?

§ Mr. Robertson
There is no embarrassment involved in looking carefully at what range of forces we might have in the Gulf at any point. At the end of last week, we simply announced an adjustment in our force levels in the Gulf. We are not letting our guard down for a moment. The danger and the threat have not gone away. We will not reduce our vigilance until we are absolutely satisfied that Saddam has provided the evidence to assure us that he has destroyed all his weapons of mass destruction.
The hon. and learned Gentleman mentioned the performance of some aircraft in the extreme heat of the Gulf. That is not new. The effectiveness of Harriers, like that of all other aircraft, declines in the Gulf summer; its ability to hover and land on carriers is affected by the extreme heat. We have made it clear that, by sending additional Tornados to Kuwait, we have in no way diminished the threat that we pose to Saddam if he continues his unnecessary confrontation with the United Nations.

§ Mr. Robert Key (Salisbury)
Given that there are six shipbuilding yards in the UK capable of building vessels of more than 40,000 tonnes, some of which have state-of-the-art, high-technology, computer-assisted design for naval ships, as I discovered at Yarrow on the Clyde last Friday, will the Secretary of State take the opportunity to deny the persistent information that the Ministry of Defence would consider ordering aircraft carriers from Poland?

§ Mr. Robertson
That can only be a delusion held in the hon. Gentleman's mind. I am sure that the management of Yarrow cannot have been the source of that rumour. In the strategic defence review, we are examining the requirement that we might have for successors to our three Invincible-class carriers, and, if we decide to go down that route, what size they might be and what aircraft they would take. We are well aware of the shipbuilding and ship repair capability in this country, which is among the finest in the world.