HC Deb 14 April 1965 vol 710 cc206-7W
Mr. Bence

asked the Minister of Aviation if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a list of aircraft and missiles cancelled from 1952 to the present date, the amount expended on each item, including cancellation charge, and the date of cancellation.

Mr. Roy Jenkins

The list is as follows:

AIRCRAFT AND MISSILES CANCELLED BEFORE GOING INTO SERVICE SINCE 1952
Estimated Expenditure £m Cancel lotion Date
Transport Aircraft
Brabazon transport aircraft 6.45 Feb., 1952
Princess flying boat 9.1 1954
Vickers military transport aircraft 4.0 Dec., 1955
Orion turbo-prop. aero engine 4.75 Jan., 1958
Rotodyne helicopter 11.0 Feb., 1962
Operational Aircraft
D.H. fighter aircraft 2.5 May, 1952
Developed Hawker Hunter 0.14 July, 1953
Swift fighter aircraft 22.0 Feb., 1955
Swift photo-reconnaissance and fighter aircraft 0.3 June, 1955
Swift crescent-wing research fighter 1.6 Dec., 1955
Avro rocket interceptor aircraft 1.0 Sept., 1955
Thin wing Javelin all-weather fighter aircraft 2.3 June, 1956
Fairey supersonic fighter aircraft 0.15 Mar., 1957
Supersonic bomber (in eluding engine) 2.05 Mar., 1957
Naval Interceptor 3.2 Dec., 1957
Scorpion rocket engine 1.25 Feb., 1959
Spectre rocket engine 5.75 Oct., 1960
P.1154 25.0 Feb., 1965
HS.681 4.0 Feb., 1965
TSR.2 195.0 Apr.,1965

Estimated Expenditure £m. Cancellation Date
Missiles
Guided bomb with television eye 3.1 June, 1954
Vickers flying bomb 0.7 Sept., 1954
Air-to-ship guided bomb 0.9 Mar., 1956
Air-to-air missile with radar guidance 7.5 June, 1956
Long-range surface-to-air guided weapon 1.5 May, 1957
Heavy anti-tank missile 2.4 Sept., 1959
Blue Steel Mark II 0.825 Dec., 1959
Bloodhound Mark III 0.6 Mar., 1960
Blue Streak ballistic missile 84.0 Apr., 1960
Low-level surface-to-air guided weapon 0.8 Dec., 1961
Medium range surface-to-surface missile 32.1 Aug., 1962
Skybolt air-to-surface ballistic missile 27.0 Dec., 1962
Medium Range Swingfire (Anti-tank missile) 0.234 Nov., 1964

Expenditure figures have been extracted from records extending over a number of years and may not all be on an identical basis. For more recent cancellations, estimates have been given. Both sets of figures should be regarded as approximate.

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