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BAE SYSTEMS (Marine) commits to potential carrier assembly site

15 May 2002

BAE Systems (Marine) has announced the signing of a lease on a drydock facility in Greenock as part of the company's bid for work on the Royal Navy's next generation of aircraft carriers.

The long-term deal on the facility has been agreed with Clydeport and gives Marine full use of the 300 metre dry-dock and the other berthing facilities which would support assembly of the vessels, which are expected to displace around 50,000 tonnes, at the 27 acre site.

BAE Systems PCO and Thales are the two companies bidding for the prime contract to design and build the new carriers.

BAE Systems (Marine) believe that the Inchgreen drydock, along with our other resources and facilities, and especially the skills of our workforce, make Marine ideally placed to make a strong bid for significant work packages to either of the two prospective prime contractors.

Marine will also propose that it be given overall responsibility for co-ordinating the production engineering, manufacture and build of the two Carrier platforms, including final assembly in Inchgreen and commissioning of the ship's systems, as a 'platform integrator'. This would involve Marine working closely with a number of other UK shipyards following a design and build strategy based on modular construction.

No final decisions have yet been made on the CVF build strategy and much will depend on the final design taken forward. The prime teams for CVF are due to formally submit their build strategy proposals to the MoD later in the year.

Brian Phillipson, Managing Director of the Sea Systems group that includes Marine, said:

The leasing of this site represents a significant commitment from Marine in support of this important programme.

We believe that the Inchgreen facility has many attractions for the assembly of the carriers, and we share the hope of the local community that the carriers will be built using the skills of the existing Clydeside shipbuilding workforce. However, we recognise that the decisions on the design and build of the carriers are still with the Prime Contractors and MOD, and if another strategy is adopted we will be seeking to play as full a role as we can in the programme.