§ The Earl of KIMBERLEYasked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress has been made on the PTARMIGAN communications project.
§ The MINISTER of STATE, MINISTRY of DEFENCE (Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal)A contract with the Plessey Company Limited as prime contractor hsa been entered into for the production of PTARMIGAN to meet the vital requirement for the replacement tactical trunk communications system for BAOR. PTARMIGAN is a fully automated digital system and will be the first such system in NATO to meet agreed inter-operability standards. The project will cost several hundred million pounds and will provide work for at least the next five years for some 14 major British subcontractors and a number of other suppliers involving several hundred new lobs in the United Kingdom.