§ 5. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the Sting Ray torpedo project.
§ Mr. PattieThe Sting Ray programme is running to the time scale and costs planned at the end of the project definition stage in 1978. It is due to enter service within the coming year.
§ Mr. HamiltonBy how much is the final cost likely to exceed £1, 000 million? Are any of our allies or any other countries interested in the project and prepared to buy it?
§ Mr. PattieI am not prepared to speculate about the final outturn costs. As a member of the Public Accounts Committee, the hon. Gentleman will be aware of the forecasts that have been made. It is probably a little early in the product's development for many navies to be interested, but some preliminary inquiries have been made.
§ Sir Patrick WallWhat progress has been made in discussions with the Americans about the next generation of NATO torpedoes with a British front end and a rear end made by the Americans?
§ Mr. PattieWe have had close and continuing negotiations and discussions with the United States of America. We had hoped that certain opportunities would exist to make more progress than has been made on the heavyweight and lightweight—Stingray—side. At present, all I can say is that the discussions continue.