MOD names Ian Booth as chief executive of £41bn Trident replacement project

THE Ministry of Defence has named the man responsible for the massive £41bn programme to replace Britain’s Trident submarines, a role which will make him one of the country’s bestpaid civil servants.

Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Sec- retary, has confirmed the job of chief executive of the Submarine Delivery Authority (SDA) will go to Ian Booth, who previously headed the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA), the state-industry body charged with constructing the new Queen Elizabeth-class warships. Overseeing the SDA – which has a £31bn budget with £10bn contingency funds to build the four Dreadnought submarines – comes with annual earnings of almost £500,000.

The job’s remuneration is split almost 50:50 between basic pay and bonuses, dependent on hitting performance targets as work on the submarines progresses.

“Ian is highly respected and very capable,” said independent defence analyst Howard Wheeldon. “He brought the new carriers in on time and managed the budget as design changes were made by government about whether the ships would have catapults and traps or use F-35 jets, which can take off and land without them.”

Before heading the ACA, Mr Booth held senior industry roles including posts building Astute attack submarines and the Typhoon jet fighter.