§ Sir R. Russellasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give further details of the use to which £49,500,000 worth of ammunition and explosives referred to on page 138 of the Defence Estimates, 1967–68, will be put; how much of it will be sold to other countries; and why the amount is being increased by more than 25 per cent. compared with 1966–67.
§ Mr. HealeyThe sum of £49,500,000 refers to the total manufacturing costs of ammunition and explosives produced by the Army Department for the three Services and for sale to overseas countries. It includes the costs of purchase of basic materials and components, as well as the cost of assembly and filling of complete rounds of ammunition and bombs. Requirements of the three Services accounts for some £41.0 million for ammunition and bombs for training purposes and to build up operational reserves; and £2.5 million is for the purchase of basic materials, such as explosives and propellants not yet made up into ammunition and not therefore at this stage attributable to individual items. The remaining £6.0 million is for production for sale to other countries.
The increase of £10.8 million over the 1966–67 figure is made up of increased production expenditure of £8.0 million for the requirements of the Services, £1.5 million for sale to other countries and the remaining £1.3 million for increase, purchases of basic materials. The 211W increased production for the Services is to help to build up reserves to authorised levels and to provide training stocks for new weapons being introduced.