§ The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon)I am pleased to announce that we have decided to extend the future aircraft carrier (CVF) programme assessment phase. This extension will enable us to carry out further risk reduction work and increase the maturity of the design prior to making our main investment decision on demonstration and manufacture (D&M). In line with smart acquisition principles, by spending the right amount of time and money in the assessment phase we will gain a better understanding of the technical and supply-side risks before we make any major commitments. We had planned to complete this risk reduction work within the original demonstration phase. The underlying programme has not been adjusted, but rather the point at which we make the main investment decision has shifted.
We anticipate moving into the D&M phase during 2005, following the main gate decision. At this point we intend to finalise performance, time and cost parameters of the carriers. These will continue to be refined during the remainder of the assessment phase. Our target in service dates (ISO) for the CVF remain 2012 and 2015. When built the two vessels will be the largest and most powerful warships ever constructed in the United Kingdom.
We have also agreed the alliancing principles with industry for the CVF programme which confirms the commitment of all parties to the programme and to an alliance based on commercial best practice. The alliancing principles will provide the most effective way of managing risk and reward and will bring together all parties with a vested financial interest, thus ensuring that we deliver CVF collaboratively. We will now discuss and agree the detailed alliancing arrangements with industry, including the roles and responsibilities of alliance members.