§ Mr. Burdenasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give up-to-date figures of the value of firm orders so far placed by the United States, excluding the Saudi Arabian deal, for British arms and equipment intended to help meet the dollar cost of United States military supplies ordered by this country.
§ Mr. HealeyNo firm orders have yet been placed, but, in addition to the assault tracking which I have previously mentioned, British firms have made bids recently for two survey ships and for boiler tubes for the U.S. Navy. The bid for the survey ships turned out to be the lowest when opened on the 7th July and provided that the bid is found to be responsive, in the sense that it meets the specification, a firm order should result during the course of the next few weeks. We have just heard that the bid for the boiler tubes was the lowest when opened on 12th July, and we therefore hope for an order in this case as well.