M79 Light Mortar (Hansard, 27 April 1966)

§ 25. Mr. Goodhart
asked the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for equipping British forces with the United States M79 light mortar.

§ Mr. Reynolds
A decision on the use of this equipment will be taken in the light of trials now being held in this country and in the Far East.

§ Mr. Goodhart
In view of the shortage of light mortar equipment in the Middle East and Far East and the fact that the trials so far held have proved to be most satisfactory, will the Minister press this forward as quickly as possible?

§ Mr. Reynolds
It is not a mortar. It is a grenade thrower. I do not think that the rest of the Question therefore follows. But we are going as fast as we can.

§ Mr. Speaker
The hon. Member for Gillingham (Mr. Burden) should not anticipate Mr. Speaker by standing when another hon. Member is speaking. Mr. Burden.

§ Mr. Burden
Does not the Minister agree that if we go on buying American equipment at this rate we shall have to sell a lot of British equipment to make up for it?

§ Mr. Reynolds
In fact, we are not buying in total sales as much as the amount to which the previous Government but one committed us. Answering about this particular piece of equipment, the hon. Member is probably aware that it takes many years to design a piece of equipment of this nature. We did not inherit any design studies about this from that Administration.