The First Post : The Navy's controversy over the two 100bn carrriers

The Navy’s £100bn flight of fancy Are two new aircraft carriers being built for all the wrong reasons, asks ROBERT FOX

Just when the Army is complaining about the critical need for new Land Rovers in Afghanistan, a row is developing behind the scenes over plans to spend a fortune on two aircraft carriers for the Navy.

The expense is so high - possibly £100bn in all - that it dwarfs the controversy over the Trident replacement programme. And, just as with Trident, senior defence experts are asking whether the carriers are even necessary.

For once the Government cannot blame the media for the controversy, because the project has been almost entirely concealed from public gaze.

The row dates back to the Strategic Defence Review of 1998, when the Government declared its intention of acquiring two full-size aircraft carriers for the fleet.

The government cannot blame the media for this controversy, because the project has been concealed from public gaze

Nine years down the line, it was planned to place contracts to build the two 60,000 tonne ships, to be named HMS Queen Elizabeth II and Prince of Wales, with a new streamlined consortium headed by BAe and Thales UK. The initial build would cost £3.6bn, though the second vessel would cost about 12 per cent more because it wouldn't be ready until 2020.