Statement Re CVF

RNS Number : 8550U

Babcock International Group PLC

20 May 2008

 



21 May 2008

Babcock International Group PLC

Babcock welcomes MoD's commitment to the Aircraft Carrier programme

Commenting on today's major announcement by the Ministry of Defence (``MoD'') concerning the Future Aircraft Carrier (``CVF'') programme, Babcock welcomes the Government's commitment to taking the project through to its manufacturing stages. 

On 25 July 2007, the Secretary of State for Defence announced that the MoD would place an order for two aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy - HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. Since then, Babcock has made steady progress on the ships' designs and achieved significant milestones in preparing the site at our Rosyth facility in Scotland, where both ships will be assembled. 

As a key member of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, Babcock will be engaged in delivering these 65,000 tonne vessels, the largest and most capable warships ever built in the United Kingdom. It is anticipated that the CVF contract will be worth some £600 million to Babcock through the duration of the programme until 2015. 

Peter Rogers, chief executive, said: ``We are delighted by the latest announcement made by the Ministry of Defence. This development enables all the Alliance members to focus on delivering this landmark programme. We look forward to participating with all our partners in what will be one of the most exciting British defence projects for many years.''

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Babcock International Group PLC
Peter Rogers, Chief Executive	020 7291 5000
Bill Tame, Finance Director
Terri Wright, Investor Relations
Financial Dynamics
Andrew Lorenz / Sophie Kernon	020 7269 7121

  Notes to Editors

• The aircraft carriers will be delivered by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, which comprises industry participants and MoD.The Industrial Participants will be: the BAES/VT Joint Venture, Thales, Babcock and BAES (Submarine Solutions & Insyte). The MOD's DE&S is responsible for managing the procurement of the aircraft carriers. The MOD is part of the Alliance as both client and participant.

• In line with recommendations made in the Government's 1998 Strategic Defence Review, CVF will replace the Royal Navy's current three Invincible class aircraft carriers with two larger, more capable vessels. The CVF or Queen Elizabeth class of carriers will be the largest capital ships ever constructed in the UK or operated by the Royal Navy and the most powerful carrier force outside the USA. 

• CVF should provide Babcock with a total of 9 million man hours of work: 7million at Rosyth, 1million at Appledore in Devon (where one of Babcock's allocated hull modules will be constructed) plus another million in engineering.

• Total carrier-related employment levels at Rosyth itself (including Alliance partner companies, commissioning staff and other sub contractors) will peak at about 2,000.

• In February, a £35 million civil engineering contact was awarded by the Alliance to Nuttall's, to begin work on modifying the Rosyth docks to accommodate the CVF assembly. Further investment will follow, including the installation of a Goliath crane to move the ships' modules into position.   

 

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