The UK defense ministry on Thursday announced the appointment of Vice Admiral Sir Simon Lister as managing director of the organisation delivering the UK’s new aircraft carriers.
Admiral Lister will take a sabbatical from his Royal Navy career to lead the Aircraft Carrier Alliance’s (ACA) continued delivery.
The two 65,000 tonne aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, will lead the UK’s maritime forces for the next fifty years. With the former having now sailed into her home port of Portsmouth and the latter being officially named next week, Admiral Lister will continue to drive the program forward and guide the second carrier through to delivery.
The role became vacant following the appointment of Ian Booth as the first Chief Executive of the new Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA), which the Secretary of State also confirmed today.
Booth will now turn his skills to the task of replacing the UK’s four Vanguard Class submarines with the new Dreadnought Class which will provide the UK with its continuous at sea nuclear deterrent. Booth will also oversee the delivery of the remainder of the Astute-class attack submarines and lead day-to-day support of the existing fleet of Trafalgar, Astute and Vanguard class submarines.