more grist to the JSF mill:
Will it get the chop? What a mess. But this and the delay in actually commissioning the carriers might give the SHAR a reprieve. Plus I hate it that these carriers are named after royals!!!!!
Pentagon cuts pose new threat to plan for British carriers
IAN BRUCE, Defence Correspondent November 10 2005
BRITAIN'S plans to build two new aircraft-carriers could be thrown into further disarray and extra expense by a £20bn cut in US military spending.
The major casualty of the budget cuts on future projects is most likely to be the vertical-landing version of the US-designed Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) chosen by the UK to fly from the carriers.
The Royal Navy and the RAF want 150 of the aircraft, which were also to be built for the US Marine Corps, to replace their Harrier jump-jet squadrons.
The Ministry of Defence has already spent £2bn on the JSF to help fund Lockheed-Martin's development of the stealthy fighter-bomber.
The total bill to the British taxpayer for the full order has been estimated at £10bn, on top of the £3.6bn cost of building the 60,000-tonne carriers.
Thousands of UK shipbuilding jobs, including between 2000 and 3000 on the Clyde and at Rosyth, are dependent on the shared construction work on the huge warships.
But, if the JSF programme is axed, the vessels would have to be fitted with electro-magnetic catapults and arrestor gear to allow conventional aircraft to operate at sea – adding tens of millions of pounds in costs. The move would also considerably delay the carriers project.
The MoD still insists that the carriers will be ordered and built, although shipbuilding unions have warned that any further delays will result in lay-offs at yards from Portsmouth to Govan.
The MoD had announced last month that negotiations over the cost of construction would mean a year's delay in bringing the ships into service. The first, HMS Queen Elizabeth, was due in 2012 and its sister ship, Prince of Wales, three years later.
Defence officials say no comment can be made until the Pentagon confirms any decision it might make on the future of the JSF project.
A US defence source told The Herald: "We understand that Gordon England, the US deputy defence secretary, is looking to kill one of the three JSF variants being developed. The one in his crosshairs is the short-take-off, vertical-landing version ordered by our Marine Corps and your Royal Navy and RAF."
The American budget cuts announced last week are a direct response to the continuing drain of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and to the cost of recovery from hurricane damage.
IRONIC HUH?
BTW WHY IS IT ALWAYS WRITTEN 'Harrier jump-jet'?
A bit like you know that when they mention Mars it is always going to be followed 'the Red Planet' ARGH!