§ Mrs. LaitTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the United Kingdom proposes to order further quantities of Trident missiles; and if he will make a statement. [36608]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotOver half our planned number of Trident missiles has been purchased. Orders for the remainder are likely to be placed within the next four years and we have recently begun to commit expenditure to this end. Overall the Trident programme remains well within its original estimate. Savings in real terms on the missile purchases exceed 30 per cent., partly due to intervening exchange rate movements.