§ Mr. Dodds-Parkerasked the Minister of Aviation what progress has been made 169W in the placing of orders for British equipment for the Phantom and C130 aircraft, respectively; if he will specify the equipment concerned; and what proportion of the value of each type of aircraft, excluding the airframes and engines, will be of British manufacture.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsWe are in the process of deciding the equipment fit we shall require for these types of aircraft. Some of it will undoubtedly be of British design and manufacture, although I am not yet able to say what proportion of the total value this will represent in either case. We hope that in addition it will be possible to arrange for certain other items of equipment to be manufactured in this country even though they are of American design: in making such arrangements we must of course have regard to the relative costs of U.K. and U.S. manufacture and the overriding need of not stretching the time scale.
§ Mr. Martenasked the Minister of Aviation to what extent British-made electronic equipment for the Phantom aircraft meets Service requirements; and to what extent it is reasonably competitive for price and time.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsThere are several items of electronic equipment of British design which would probably be fully acceptable in themselves, but we have to consider not only the cost and performance of the British equipment but also the effect of installing them on the cost, performance and time-scale of the aircraft as a whole. In addition to British-designed equipment there may be scope for the manufacture in the U.K. of items of American design. These matters are the subject of current discussions.