Air-to-Air Guided Missiles (Hansard, 2 February 1955)

§ 30. Mr. Wyatt
asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air when he expects air-to-air guided missiles to be in service in the Royal Air Force.

§ 33. Mr. Shinwell
asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air what air-to-air missiles are available to the Royal Air Force; and whether they are of British design and production.

Mr. Ward
Production orders have been placed for air-to-air guided missiles of British design, but I am afraid I cannot reveal details of our programme.

§ Mr. Wyatt
As the American Air Force has air-to-air guided missiles in use, is it not a grave reflection on the Government's efficiency that our development has been allowed to fall so far behind?

Mr. Ward
If it is a grave reflection on anyone, it is a grave reflection on the Socialist Government for not having started work earlier.

§ Mr. Shinwell
Is that the method the hon. Gentleman adopts when evading the issue and seeking to conceal the ineffectiveness of the Conservative Government in this respect? Is he not aware that for several years before the Tory Government came in there were research and development and, indeed, demonstrations in connection with guided missiles from ground to air, and that several of these missiles were mentioned by name? It must be well known to the hon. Gentleman. Why is it, in view of the research and development over a long period of time, that the Conservative Government have been unable to provide either ground-to-air missiles or air-to-air missiles at the present time?

Mr. Ward
The decision was taken by the Government of the day in 1946 to 1947 to delay the placing of development contracts.

§ Mr. Shinwell
Is the hon. Gentleman not aware that during the period when I happened to be Minister of Defence in the Labour Government, the Socialist Government—we are not ashamed to call ourselves a Socialist Government—research and development—the hon. Gentleman must know this—were speeded up? Nevertheless, in spite of all that was done, in three years and three months this Government have done practically nothing to provide these missiles.

Mr. Ward
That is not true. The development of these weapons has been proceeding as rapidly as possible under this Administration. It has been going very well.

§ Mr. G. R. Strauss
In view of the hon. Gentleman's remarks, may I ask him whether he is aware that up to four years ago development was proceeding extremely well on all these guided missiles? The hon. Gentleman made some slighting remark about what we had done in the matter. Is he aware that, in the view of our Royal Air Force authorities at that time, we were, in the development of these missiles, at least up to and probably ahead of the United States?

§ Mr. Dodds
Why did the hon. Gentleman say 1946 to 1947?

Mr. Ward
I only made the slighting remark because the hon. Gentleman opposite tried to pin all the blame on this Government, which was strictly unfair.

Air Commodore Harvey
Quite apart from development, can my hon. Friend say if production contracts were placed prior to the Government taking office? If they were not, have they been placed since?

Hon. Members
Answer.

Mr. Ward
I have every intention of answering, but I was trying to ask my hon. and gallant Friend if he would mind repeating his question, as I did not hear the last part of it.

Air Commodore Harvey
What I said was, quite apart from the development work the right hon. Gentleman referred to, could my hon. Friend say whether production contracts were placed by the Labour Government, and, if they were not, whether they have been placed since.

Mr. Ward
No production contracts were placed by the Labour Government, and as I said in my answer just now, production contracts have been placed by this Government.

§ Mr. Beswick
But is not the trouble that, since those development contracts have been placed, too much of our national effort has been put into the production of television sets and not enough of our skilled technicians in electronics devoted to this kind of national need?

§ Mr. Shinwell
In view of the statement made by the hon. Gentleman that the present Government were now engaged in production, would he be fair to hon. Members on both sides and tell us the actual date when production started, and when the Government expect to have these missiles?

Mr. Ward
I do not want to be unfair to anybody, but if I am attacked I have to reply. I cannot tell the right hon. Gentleman when we expect to get these things into service—

§ Mr. Shinwell
When were they put into production?

Mr. Ward
—because I would much sooner be shot at across the Floor of the House than be guilty of a breach of security.

§ Mr. de Freitas
Is the hon. Gentleman aware, with regard to breach of security, that the journal of the Air League has accused the Government of using security to hide their mistakes?

Mr. Ward
Its account is not true.

§ Mr. Wigg
If the Government are going to hide behind security, how does the hon. Gentleman account for the fact that accounts have appeared in the American Press of the type of research going on? Everybody knows it is the greatest breach of security since the leak about the hydrogen bomb.