§ 40. Mr. A. Hendersonasked the Minister of Supply how far the policy of standardisation of weapons which is being followed among North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries is to apply to the guided missile now in process of development.
§ The Minister of Supply (Mr. Duncan Sandys)More experience of the various types of guided rockets must be gained before it would be right to standardise.
§ Mr. HendersonWould not the right hon. Gentleman agree that the very high cost of these missiles is likely to be one of the limiting factors in the numbers which will be produced, and will he assure the House that great importance is attached to such methods as standardisation of correlated production programmes in order to lower the cost of production?
§ Mr. SandysI can certainly give the right hon. and learned Gentleman that assurance. He will understand that many methods of propulsion and guidance are being developed and that until we have established by experience which are the most effective it would be unwise to attempt standardisation.