The HMS Ark Royal is to be scrapped as part of the Coalitions defence cuts. The Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier is to be taken out of service with ‘immediate effect’. Its fleet of Harrier jets is also to be axed.
The UK could be left without a carrier that can service British jets for up to ten years. The building of two new vessels at a cost of £5.2 will go ahead as it would cost the taxpayer more to scrap the contract than to see it through to completion. However one of the carriers may well be ‘mothballed’ and sold within a few years
