Companies win £91m ship contracts

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Seven UK firms have won contracts totalling £91.5m to build parts for the Navy's two new aircraft carriers.

Corus, based in Scunthorpe, will get £65m to provide steel for HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

Five other English firms, in Dorset, Greater Manchester, Surrey, Suffolk and Lancashire, will build products ranging from control towers to landing aids.

Scottish firm MacTaggart Scott & Co, in Mid Lothian, will get £13m to build aircraft lifts for the £3.2bn ships.

On Thursday the Ministry of Defence (MoD) signed contracts to build the 919ft (280m) long carriers, the biggest in the UK's history.

Each will be capable of carrying up to 40 planes and will eventually carry the new Joint Strike Fighter aircraft.

Peter Symonds, air operations manager for the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, said construction of the carriers would provide a major economic boost for firms up and down the country.

The Alliance is a partnership of the main companies building the ships, including BAE Systems.

Where the money goes 1. MacTaggart Scott & Co £13m 2. Salt Separation Services £1m 3. Brand Rex £3m 4. Corus £65m5. Tex Special Products £1m 6. Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine BV £1m 7. Aeronautical & General Instruments £7.5m

"The majority of the contracts have been placed or are in the process of being placed at the moment," he said.

"Most of them are going to UK companies. A lot of the firms will have been employed in the maritime industry anyway.

"But any new contracts with us opens up their chances of winning further contracts in the future."

Keith Hazlewood, national secretary of the GMB Union, said: "It's only good news for UK manufacturing, creating further jobs outside the building of the aircraft carriers, for various parts of the country.

"It's much needed work for many communities and once again demonstrates that UK manufacturing is not dying."

Aeronautical & General Instruments, from Poole, Dorset, has been awarded a £7.5m contract to design and build visual landing aids.

Salt Separation Services, of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, gets £1m to equip the ships with water production systems.

Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine BV, from New Malden, Surrey, will provide an Integrated Navigation and Bridge System (INBS) for £1m.

Tex Special Products, in Ipswich, Suffolk, will build two "flycos" - flying control centres, after also being awarded a £1m contract.

And Brand Rex, from Leigh, Lancashire, gets £3m for a Blown Fibre Optic Cable Plant (BFOCP).