10:21am Thursday 3rd July 2008
By Gareth Lewis
WORK on building two new aircraft carriers will move a step closer when terms are signed on the Royal Navy's flagship, HMS Ark Royal, in Hampshire later today.
The new Royal Navy aircraft carriers - HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales - will cost a total of £4 billion and secure 10,000 jobs in the UK.
Work on the 65,000-ton ships is to be carried out at Portsmouth, where the on-board ceremony will be held, as well as at Govan in Glasgow, Rosyth in Fife and Barrow in Furness.
The primary contractor in the deal is BVT, the new company formed by Hampshire based defence giants BAE and VT's decision to pool their shipbuilding facilities.
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