LATER today, the Government will set out the results of the long-awaited Strategic Defence Review.

Over the weekend Chancellor George Osborne revealed that the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers are set to be the centrepiece of a new strategy that will give British forces the ability to operate overseas beyond the reach of RAF cover.

The number of strike aircraft the carriers will embark has been trebled to 24 with the potential to deploy 39 in an emergency.

And by 2023 the Royal Navy will have one carrier continuously at sea at all times providing a formidable task force.

The Navy will be relieved that the review has backed its case that only two carriers will do. The axe has been hanging over the second ship for more than five years and there were genuine fears that it would be sold off or put in reserve before it was finished.

Critics will say the carriers are Cold War relics which do nothing apart from provide work for shipyards, including those in the North-East.

A full-size aircraft carrier, able to deploy almost anywhere in the world, is an asset only a handful of other countries possess. The navy’s carriers will operate the F35 jump jet – one of the world’s most formidable fighters – and will be able to project British power worldwide without dependence on friendly allies or local bases. They also neatly avoid the cost of building airbases in foreign countries – assets which cannot be removed when the RAF leaves.

There are signs, however, that the defence review will represent a type British fudge. The admirals may have got their ships but not the 2,000 extra sailors needed to man them and the new frigate fleet is expected to be cut.

The latter makes a nonsense of the MoD’s claim that having two carriers will enable the Navy to recover the Falklands in the event of another Argentine occupation. The surface fleet is already too small for such an operation and it is likely to shrink still further.