§ Dr. Julian LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) whether it remains his policy to acquire two British-built new aircraft carriers; and by what dates; [182002]
(2) what assessment his Department has made of the suitability of United States carriers to carry out each of the projected CVF tasks if purchased by the Royal Navy; [182004]
(3) what discussions his Department has held with United States counterparts concerning the possible purchase of US carriers for the Royal Navy. [182005]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 5 July 2004]: We remain fully committed to buying two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy. There has been no change to our policy that Royal Navy warship hulls will be built in the United Kingdom. Given this position, we have not considered the possible purchase of United States carriers, nor have we therefore assessed the suitability of United States carriers to undertake projected CVF tasks. However, the Department regularly exchanges information with the US on our respective programmes, for example in areas such as the integration of the Joint Combat Aircraft. Our target in-service dates for the two carriers remain 2012 and 2015.
§ Dr. Julian LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his estimate is of the minimum(a) tonnage and (b) aircraft numbers to be operated from each future carrier to enable it to fulfil its strategic expeditionary role. [182003]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 5 July 2004]: The Ministry of Defence has not sought to fix the dimensions of the aircraft carriers during the assessment phase. The design of the ships will continue to evolve as we seek to balance the overall performance, time and cost parameters of this complex project as part of normal assessment phase activity. Decisions on the capability to be provided by CVF, including the number of aircraft capable of being deployed, and hence on the design and dimensions for the ships, will be taken at the Main Gate investment point.