§ Sir T. Beamishasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is his estimate of the annual value of United States arms and other purchases that he hopes to offset against the dollar cost of United States military aircraft in each year until repayment has been fully effected; how he intends to distinguish between orders that would probably have been placed in the normal course of trade and other orders; and in what proportions he proposes to allocate these offset purchases between the cost of these aircraft and the cost of maintaining British forces in Germany.
§ Mr. HealeyThe average annual receipts arising from contracts already let are running at a rate more than sufficient to meet the target of $325 million over the whole period.
No difficulty has so far been experienced in identifying orders that have been placed as a result of the F111 arrangement. These purchases fall into two main categories:
- (a) contracts where the Buy American or other price-differentials have been waived,
- (b) sub-contracts where the United States Department of Defense has given specific encouragement to its prime contractors to obtain orders in the United Kingdom.
I see no need to allocate specific purchases to the $325 million target under the F111 arrangement or to the $35 million programme for offsetting the cost of British Forces in Germany. The latter is to be paid during the calendar year 1967 and we are assured by the U.S. Government that this commitment will be met.