Work gets underway today on the refit of aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal at Rosyth Dockyard.
The 19 million pound contract is a boost for workers at the Fife base. It is hoped the upgrade will transform the 22 thousand tonne HMS Ark Royal into the most flexible aircraft carrier to date.
She will be fitted with a state of the art satellite and radio communications system with the addition of a third mast. This is to allow the Ark to deploy the Joint Force Harrier aircraft and the Apache attack helicopter.
The contract was hailed as a lifeline when it was announced in February, but the yard's owner Babcock Engineering Services confirmed more than 300 jobs would be lost just weeks later, cutting the workforce to 1200.
This refit should go some way to bridging the gap in the order books between now and the work on the Navy's two new super-carriers in 2007.
Babcock has previously refitted all 3 of the Navy's Invincible class aircraft carriers, HMS Invincible, HMS Illustrious and Ark Royal during a 6 year programme of investment.
While the current upgrade continues, Illustrious will be the only carrier in service after Invincible was decommissed, raising concerns the Navy will be overstretched.
The Ark Royal will be ready again for sea in August and rejoin the Royal Navy Fleet before Christmas.
Source
Search This Blog
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Fair Use Notice
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.
The material is being made available in an effort to advance understanding arms trade activities, for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
This is a completely non-commercial site for private personal use. No fee is charged, and no money is made off of the operation of this site.
The material is being made available in an effort to advance understanding arms trade activities, for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
This is a completely non-commercial site for private personal use. No fee is charged, and no money is made off of the operation of this site.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.