§ Mr. Leslie Huckfieldasked the President of the Board of Trade (1) when the Linesman/Mediator air traffic control system will be first operable;
(2) what phase Linesman/Mediator has reached; what is the difficulty resulting in the return to phase three-quarters; and what Linesman/Mediator will do when it becomes operable.
§ Mr. CorfieldDevelopment of the air traffic control system under the Mediator project will be implemented in stages. The first stage, in which control of traffic in the airways in Southern England will be integrated and concentrated in the new London Air Traffic Control Centre at West Drayton, is currently planned for implementation in the Spring of 1971. Improved radar and display facilities will 43W be introduced at the same time. The Mediator project, when completed, will be an integrated civil and military system of control of all air traffic flying en-route over this country. It will consist on the one hand of a network of radars to track and identify aircraft, and on the other hand of systems of computers processing the information on aircraft movements and intentions which the control task requires. Linesman is a related air defence project.
§ Mr. Leslie Huckfieldasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is satisfied that the Linesman/Mediator system of air traffic control is the safest and latest equipment available; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. CorfieldThe Mediator project has been planned to meet the en-route control requirements of air traffic over the United Kingdom for many years to come. Because of the time such projects take to conceive, design and implement it cannot be guaranteed that the eventual equipment will be the latest available at the time of its introduction, particularly in such a technically advanced area.