HC Deb 24 February 2003 vol 400 cc309-10W
Mr. Gerald Howarth

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish the Technology Readiness Assessment of each of the candidate unmanned air vehicles for Watchkeeper; with which allied armed forces each of the candidate UAVs for Watchkeeper will be interoperable; which weapons are cleared for use from each of the candidate UAVs for Watchkeeper; how many of these have been used in combat; and if he will list the countries of origin of the candidate UAVs for Watchkeeper. [97192]

Mr. Ingram

I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence's written statement to the House on 7 February 2003,Official Report, columns 21–22WS.

The Technology Readiness Assessment and the ability of the competitors to achieve a mature integration of the technology will feature as discriminators in choosing the final solutions. I am therefore withholding this information in accordance with Exemption 13 on the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, which relates to third party's commercial confidences.

There are many levels of potential UAV interoperability that require different degrees of compatibility of air vehicle, ground segment equipment and data links. To optimise UAV interoperability, the United Kingdom is contributing to the development, in association with our NATO allies, of standard UAV interfaces.

The United Kingdom has not cleared any weapons for use with the candidate UAVs for Watchkeeper. Current requirements for Watchkeeper do not call for the solutions to be able to carry weapons. The Ministry of Defence is not aware of any weapons being cleared, by any other nation, for use with those UAVs now being considered by the Watchkeeper programme. Neither are we aware of them having been used in combat.

Component parts of the candidate UAVs for Watchkeeper, including the ground segment, the onboard sensors and the air vehicles, have their design origins in a number of countries. The current candidate air vehicles are derived from designs with origins either in the US or Israel.