(July 10th 2001)
Type 45 Orders Accelerated
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has announced three more D class Type 45 Destroyers are to be ordered from the project prime contractor BAE Systems, subject to satisfactory negotiations, in addition to the initial three ships contracted for last year.
Mr Hoon announced that an order would be placed in the next few months for the next batch of three, some three years earlier than originally planned. It is argued this will benefit the shipbuilders by giving them a guaranteed level of work to the end of the decade, allowing investment in new facilities, and offer savings to the taxpayer.
The cost of the first six ships is expected to be about £4.3 billion and their construction is expected to sustain about 1,200 jobs on the Clyde, some 900 at Barrow-in-Furness and around 650 at Vosper Thornycroft once the construction programme is up and running.