DROPS (Hansard, 11 May 1987)

§ Sir Ian Gilmour

asked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what conclusions his Department's review of competing equipments for the 1983 DROPS selection reached regarding the criteria to be used for the technical decision for the MMLC truck; what weight was to be given to its peacetime payload capability; and if he will make a statement;

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(2) if he will give figures for the contracts entered into for the production of DROPS equipment, showing separately the numbers of (a) MMLC and (b) IMMLC trucks; and if he will make a statement;

(3) what role the Royal Armaments Research and Development Establishment automotive facility is playing in the testing of DROPS trucks and equipment; and if he will make a statement;

(4) what role the Royal Armaments Research and Development Establishment automotive facility will be playing in future in testing the DROPS trucks and equipment, the subject of the contracts he announced on 5 December 1986; to what extent the Royal Armaments 51W Research and Development Establishment will be involved in advising him on the extent to which the trucks tested meet the requirements and may be suitable for acceptance into service; and if he will make a statement;

(5) what regard the 1982 general staff target for DROPS paid to the problems of meeting the DROPS requirements with a vehicle that was legal at full payload, and to the degree to which it would be acceptable to operate the DROPS vehicle at reduced payloads in peacetime; and if he will make a statement;

(6) if the road-use combination of MMLC DROPS truck and trailer selected by his Department in 1983 was able to carry as great a payload legally in peacetime as the Boughton MMLC-trailer combination rejected; what peacetime payload capability under (a) British or (b) German law would have been obtained by selecting Boughton's proposed equipment in 1983; and if he will make a statement.