New carriers

[codprawn]

These should be an awesome sight when they are finished!!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6914788.stm

The carriers will be huge and will be a great addition to our fleet. They will cost about £2 billion each but to put it into perspective they could build 6 for the price of the ID card scheme - I wonder which would be better for the country???

[BigFella]

'bout time . . . . . 'nuff said

[codprawn]

The NHS IT budget overspend is between 20 and 30 billion - that's 15 carriers!!!!!!!!!!!

[Limey Linda]

Yup, long overdue. Great news. Take the money from the NHS. which is the most expensive and low quality healthcare system in the world.

[donutsina911]

Its great news but the Navy's had its soul ripped out because of these ships..the cuts in ff/dd and patrol vessels and sea harriers have all been to fund these things. Lets hope by 2014, there's been a change of government for the better, so there's some RN aircraft to put on these carriers.

[Nick Thomas]

Aren't these designed to take the Eurofighter? And aren't those the aircraft that they can't afford to put any guns in?

In all, doesn't that mean the pilots will be reduced to flicking V's out the window at any target that comes their way???

[donutsina911]

nope, the Carriers will have replacement for the Sea Harrier - Joint Strike Fighter, F35 Lightning I think its called. By the time the goverment has pissed another XXX billion on ID Cards, useless IT systems and NHS managers, Id be surprised if we can afford to top them up with avgas let alone put weapons on them.

[jyasaki]

Were the Brit's involved in the development of the JSF?

I seem to recall that British Aerospace and some French group were involved, but don't really remember.

Just wondering;

jky

[donutsina911]

Yep, there's quite a few UK contractors involved in the build - Rolls Royce are involved with engines in partnership with GE, Lockheed Martin and Pratt and Whitney. BAE systems have worked on the fuselage and most of the fit out mods for the RN and RAF are being done by UK companies.

[codprawn]

I should imagine Martin Baker are building the ejection seats as they build most of the ones in the Western World. Nice to know a British company has saved so many lives!!!

"Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Limited is the world's leading producer of ejection seats. With 70,000 seats produced and 7,000 lives saved as of 2003, no one in the industry has more experience. Seats cost up to $150,000 each; they are made with the knowledge that one in ten of them will be used. The firm also supplies related safety equipment, such as life rafts.

Martin-Baker has remained family-owned throughout its existence. The company's main facilities are located in the English countryside; some of its World War II-vintage buildings once housed captured German aviators. Martin-Baker still flies a 1950s-era Meteor jet as a test bed.

Martin-Baker controls between 70 and 75 percent of the market for ejection seats for Western-made military aircraft. The U.S. Navy traditionally has been its single largest customer; in 2000 the company opened two plants in Pennsylvania"