Aircraft Carriers
Defence
Bob Ainsworth (Coventry North East, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what external assistance and technical consultancy his Department commissioned for the work to assess the costs, risks and technical feasibility of fitting cats and traps in the carrier programme; and how much it spent on each piece of work commissioned.
Peter Luff (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Defence Equipment, Support and Technology), Defence; Mid Worcestershire, Conservative)
The Ministry of Defence commissioned RAND Europe to provide an independent technical assessment of the in-build and refit conversion strategies that were under development during the Queen Elizabeth Class Conversion Development Phase. The cost of this work was £195,000 and is part of the £39 million committed to the Conversion Development programme that was announced at the time of the oral statement.