UPDATE: AT A GLANCE: Summary Of UK Strategic Defense Review

The U.K. government Tuesday announced the results of a strategic defense and security review, initiated earlier this year to cut spending to address a gaping budget deficit. It cut or changed several major defense projects as the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition made rebalancing public finances a priority.

The following is a summary of the major U.K. defense projects affected and the main companies involved in each project.

The U.K. government will continue with plans to build two new aircraft carriers, although the first carrier will be delayed by several years and the second will be held in extended readiness, or mothballed to save money.

Main companies affected: BAE Systems PLC (BA.LN) and France's Thales SA (HO.FR) are building the new carriers. Babcock International Group PLC (BAB.LN) also has a major part.

The Royal Navy's current flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal will be decommissioned four years early.

Main companies affected: Babcock is responsible for maintaining HMS Ark Royal.

The Harrier aircraft will be retired from service in the Royal Air Force, but the Tornado fleet will be maintained as it is better able to serve continuing operations in Afghanistan.

Main companies affected: BAE Systems maintains the Harrier and Tornado fleets and the loss of the Harrier will have an impact. However, the impact would have been worse if the larger Tornado fleet had been scrapped.

Orders for nine Nimrod MRA4 reconnaissance aircraft, due to start entering service as a replacement for the Nimrod MR2 from this year, will be scrapped. .

Main companies affected: The aircraft are built by BAE Systems, and Rolls-Royce Group PLC (RR.LN) was to provide the new engines for the MRA4, as it does for the predecessor aircraft.

The U.K.'s order for the Joint Strike Fighter has been cut to about 40 aircraft from about 140, although there still is an option to buy more later, according to people familiar with the matter. The delay of the new carriers means the U.K. can also order some carrier versions of the JSF, which are cheaper.

Main companies affected: Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) builds the JSF. Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) and BAE Systems are partners. Rolls-Royce and United Technologies Corp.'s (UTX) Pratt & Whitney are the engine partners.

The Royal Navy will go ahead with building seven Astute class submarines, a program that had been in doubt.

Main companies affected: BAE Systems is building the new submarines.

The building of a new defense training base has been scrapped because the project is unaffordable and can't be completed on time. The U.K. government will instead look at other proposals for rationalizing U.K. defense training.

Main companies affected: QinetiQ Group PLC (QQ.LN) and French company Sodexo SA (SW.FR) jointly led the consortium that was preferred bidder for the first part of the training review program. QinetiQ said it has incurred costs of GBP37 million on the project and would now write these off as an exceptional item.

Other key points of the review:

The U.K. will continue to meet the NATO target of spending 2% of GDP on defense throughout the next four years.

Ministry of Defence civilian numbers to be cut by 25,000. The MoD will also cut overheads, dispose of unnecessary assets, cut its estate and renegotiate contracts with industry. The changes will save GBP4.7 billion over the next four years.

Army numbers to be cut by 7,000 to 95,500, the Royal Navy by 5,000 to 30,000 and the Royal Air Force by 5,000 to 33,000 by 2015.

The Army will pull out of Germany, with half the existing personnel back by 2015 and the remainder by 2020.

Tank and heavy artillery numbers will be cut by 40%.

Twelve new heavy-lift Chinook helicopters will be introduced to the Army.

The production of six Type 45 destroyers will be completed. A new program to develop less expensive, more flexible frigates will be started. The total number of frigates and destroyers will reduce to 19 from 23 by 2020.

The RAF will get new A400M and A330 aircraft produced by Airbus, as well as its existing fleet of Boeing Co. (BA) C17 aircraft.

The government will invest over GBP500 million over the next four years on cyber security.

The government will retain its nuclear deterrent but plans to save around GBP1.2 billion on the program and defer another GBP2 billion of spending from the next 10 years. It'll extend the life of the Vanguard class of nuclear submarine, reduce the number of operational tubes on the carriers, reduce the number of warheads on each operational submarine and reduce its stockpile of operational warheads.

WHAT THEY SAID:

"We have been fully aware of the challenges facing the new government in addressing the public spending deficit and throughout the SDSR consultation period we have cooperated with the Ministry of Defence to identify areas in which efficiencies could be delivered and key industrial capabilities are maintained. Today's announcement gives us the basis on which to adapt our plans." - BAE Systems

"Whatever impacts occur in either the U.S. or U.K. budget, we really find the earliest impact would be starting with the 2012 budget," - Lockheed Chief Financial Officer Bruce Tanner

-By Steve McGrath, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9284; [e-mail]

(Nathan Hodge contributed to this article.)