§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the criteria required in the invitation to tender for the Staff Requirement (Air) 1239 for a beyond visual range air-to-air missile. [58523]
§ Mr. SpellarI refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood (Mr. Wilkinson) on 6 July 1998,Official Report, column 354.
§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list those companies which have been invited to tender for the SR(A) 1239. [58525]
§ Mr. SpellarSR(A)1239 refers to our requirement for a Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile for Eurofighter. Invitations to tender were issued in December 1995 to the following companies:
- a) BAe Dynamics, Stevenage.
- b) Hughes Aircraft Co., Tuscon, USA.
- c) Daimler-Benz, Germany.
- d) Alenia, Italy.
- e) Matra-Defence, France.
- f) GEC-Marconi, Stanmore.
70 - g) Aerospatiale, France.
- h) Saab Dynamics, Sweden.
- i) Raytheon Electronic Systems, Bedford.
Responses were received from Matra BAe Dynamics and Hughes Aircraft Co., now Raytheon Systems Ltd. Following initial evaluation, it was decided to conduct a project Definition/Risk Reduction phase, and further Invitations to Tender were issued to both companies in October 1997.
§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received from other EU countries on the Staff Requirement (Air) 1239 for a beyond visual range air-to-air missile. [58524]
§ Mr. SpellarAlthough SR(A)1239 is to meet a UK requirement for a Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile for Eurofighter, our Eurofighter Partner Nations, Germany, Italy and Spain, have similar requirements, as do Sweden for their JAS 39 Gripen aircraft, and have agreed to be associated with our competition. We are assessing the bids jointly and are exploring the possibility of meeting our requirements through a common solution.