§ The Earl of KINNOULLasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they support the Nimrod Early Warning System for NATO; whether it is technically as efficient in their view as the AWACS System, and whether Germany has been offered a share in the project.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSThe Nimrod AEW system was one of three622WA considered by the Alliance in their preliminary studies of a NATO AEW force. In May 1975, however, NATO decided in principle in favour of a system based on the Boeing E3A aircraft, suitably modified for NATO conditions. The Government accepted that decision in principle in view of the great advantages for the Alliance, and for the defence of the United Kingdom, of a NATO-wide airborne early warning system. We have, however, stressed that our support for the current NATO proposal was conditional on its being a truly collective scheme and on its costs being fairly shared and within our means. In view of the May 1975 decision, there is now no prospect of NATO adopting the Nimrod alternative; the question of a German share in the Nimrod project does not therefore arise.
A comparison of the technical efficiency of the two systems is difficult to make as they have been designed to meet different military requirements, the Nimrod system to meet the task in the United Kingdom Air Defence Region and in the Eastern Atlantic and Channel areas, and the Boeing E3A for the airborne early warning task over the whole of the NATO area.
House adjourned at thirteen minutes before eight o'clock.