§ Mr. SoamesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will meet the March deadline for awarding the full-production contract for the CVF. [147280]
§ Mr. IngramThe Future Carrier (CVF) programme is currently in Stage 3 of the Assessment Phase, which is due to continue until spring 2004. It is our intention that, at this point, Ministers will consider proposals on the overall CVF programme, and make a decision on when to proceed to the Demonstration and Manufacture Phases of the carriers. The target in-service dates for the carriers remain 2012 and 2015.