§ Mr. Critchleyasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the progress of the project development stage of the Army's new main battle tank.
§ Mr. PymThe Government attach the greatest importance to the timely introduction of the Army's new main battle tank MBT80, which remains its first priority equipment, and good progress is being made with project definition. After detailed evaluation of both engine options it has been decided to select a version of the Rolls-Royce Motors CV12 diesel engine in preference to the American AGT1500 gas turbine. The CV12 is the latest in a family of diesel engines manufactured by Rolls-Royce and is based on an existing design developed for the main battle tank produced for Iran. Through various changes, such as turbocharging, Rolls-Royce has increased the power of this engine to 1,500 bhp and it has further development potential. The operational 783W performance of the Rolls-Royce and United States engines would have been broadly comparable, but the AGT1500 is designed for the XM1 tank and, together with its associated transmission, would have required substantial modification for MBT80; its fuel consumption is also expected to be higher. The CV12 will be manufactured at the Shrewsbury plant of Rolls-Royce Motors, which has long experience in the production of military engines.