§ Mr. Bestasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list those aircraft which he is currently considering as a replacement for the Royal Air Force basic trainer setting out against each (a) the total cost to his Department, (b) the percentage of British-produced components in each, (c) whether each conforms to air staff target 412 and (d) the make and country of manufacture of the engine for each.
§ Mr. LeeThe four aircraft being considered to meet air staff target 412 are, in alphabetical order:
- Australian Aircraft Consortium A20
- Firecracker NDN IT
- Pilatus PC9
- Shorts (Embraer) EMB312.
The provisional cost estimates provided by the manufacturers of these aircraft are commercially confidential. The percentages of British-produced components in the aircraft are unknown to us; but in seeking tenders we should ask the manufacturers of the foreign aircraft being considered to indicate the proportion of work they could arrange in the United Kingdom. Each short-listed aircraft has been judged as being potentially able to offer a satisfactory solution to the minimum configuration, equipment and performance needs expressed in air staff target 412, but in all cases further detailed examination of some structural aspects remains to be made. All the aircraft use variants of the PT6A turbo-propeller engine manufactured by Pratt and Whitney Aircraft of Canada Limited.