http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticleSearch.aspx?storyID=189424+18-Oct-2005+RTRS&srch=carrier
By Michael Smith
LONDON (Reuters) - The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Tuesday it was unlikely to finish assessing costs and designs for its 2.9 billion pound aircraft carrier programme this year, fuelling doubts about whether its most powerful ships will be delivered on time.
The MoD's project leader for the programme, John Coles, also told a parliamentary committee that France was expected to decide by mid-December whether it would build a carrier based on the same design, instead of mid-October as previously expected.
The target to deliver two ships to the Royal Navy, one by 2012 and the other by 2015, was not being revised back, but Coles admitted he did not know if it was achievable.
"The answer is I don't know yet," Coles told MPs when asked if the targets were feasible.
"We have to do our best to try and achieve it but we will only agree to a date once we have made the main investment decision."
Coles said a decision on the programme's "main gate" phase, which would finalise performance, time and cost parameters and allocate work to shipyards, would not be completed this year.
MPs said they were previously told to expect a decision in the second half of 2005.
"This will only be decided when we are confident we have teased out the relationship between cost, performance and schedule," Coles said.
Talks had been going for two years on the possibility of France adapting the design, but there would not be an agreement unless spreading the work across three ships created cost savings, Coles told MPs.
Coles also rejected concerns that some work would be taken outside of Britain if France became involved, saying there was more than enough capacity to build the ships in the UK.
Plans for the country's biggest warships, first approved seven years ago, have still not resolved which company will do what or whether the 2.9 billion pound budget will cover costs.
Several industry officials and analysts have said the programme would cost closer to 4 billion pounds, or more than 33 percent above the ministry's budget, leading some of them to question whether the delivery dates could still be achieved.
Instead of appointing a single company as prime contractor, the MoD has formed a risk-sharing alliance with BAE Systems and France's Thales.
The MoD appointed an outside company, Halliburton unit Kellogg Brown & Root, in February to coordinate the project.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
By Michael Smith
LONDON (Reuters) - The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Tuesday it was unlikely to finish assessing costs and designs for its 2.9 billion pound aircraft carrier programme this year, fuelling doubts about whether its most powerful ships will be delivered on time.
The MoD's project leader for the programme, John Coles, also told a parliamentary committee that France was expected to decide by mid-December whether it would build a carrier based on the same design, instead of mid-October as previously expected.
The target to deliver two ships to the Royal Navy, one by 2012 and the other by 2015, was not being revised back, but Coles admitted he did not know if it was achievable.
"The answer is I don't know yet," Coles told MPs when asked if the targets were feasible.
"We have to do our best to try and achieve it but we will only agree to a date once we have made the main investment decision."
Coles said a decision on the programme's "main gate" phase, which would finalise performance, time and cost parameters and allocate work to shipyards, would not be completed this year.
MPs said they were previously told to expect a decision in the second half of 2005.
"This will only be decided when we are confident we have teased out the relationship between cost, performance and schedule," Coles said.
Talks had been going for two years on the possibility of France adapting the design, but there would not be an agreement unless spreading the work across three ships created cost savings, Coles told MPs.
Coles also rejected concerns that some work would be taken outside of Britain if France became involved, saying there was more than enough capacity to build the ships in the UK.
Plans for the country's biggest warships, first approved seven years ago, have still not resolved which company will do what or whether the 2.9 billion pound budget will cover costs.
Several industry officials and analysts have said the programme would cost closer to 4 billion pounds, or more than 33 percent above the ministry's budget, leading some of them to question whether the delivery dates could still be achieved.
Instead of appointing a single company as prime contractor, the MoD has formed a risk-sharing alliance with BAE Systems and France's Thales.
The MoD appointed an outside company, Halliburton unit Kellogg Brown & Root, in February to coordinate the project.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.