§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what assessment his Department has made of (a) Nimrod's airborne early warning systems and (b) AWAC's G-3A ability to detect slow low-flying aircraft;
(2) what information he has on progress on the General Electric Company's avionics Nimrod airborne early warning programme in the areas of (a) design, (b) production of a new aerial, (c) transmitter reliability and (d) radar detection.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonFlight trials of the Nimrod and E-3A systems have been carried out using a representative range of targets. These trials have also allowed us to make an up-to-date assessment of current system performance. We are now in the final stages of this competition and I would prefer not to comment on the relative merits of the two remaining contenders.
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is his assessment of the number of United Kingdom jobs which could arise from exports of Nimrod's airborne early warning system.
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§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThis is a matter for the company, but would, in any event, depend upon a number of factors, not least the number of orders received.
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to take account of the worldwide export potential of advanced early warning systems in deciding which system to purchase.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThe overseas sales potential of airborne early warning systems will certainly be a factor in the decision. But the major considerations in our evaluation of the two surviving candidates in our airborne early warning competition remain the ability of each to meet the Royal Air Force's pressing operational requirement and the comparative costs.
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will make a statement giving details of the nature of the offset work offered by Boeing in its airborne early warning system bid;
(2) what assessment he has made of the offset work likely to be generated by buying AWACS.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonAs the Boeing Company has said, if we buy its AEW system it will be committed to offset in the United Kingdom 130 per cent. of our expenditure, within eight years. This commitment is one of the factors we shall take into account in reaching a final decision.
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has on progress on GEC avionics efforts to market the C-130 airborne early warning system.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThis is really a question for the company, but we are monitoring progress carefully and will assist where possible.
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the offset work likely to be generated by the Nimrod airborne early warning system for Britain's advanced technology industries.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThe term offset normally refers to work carried out by the industry of a foreign customer country. However, in this instance I assume that the hon. Member is referring to the contribution made by the Nimrod AEW programme to the maintenance of Britain's advanced technology industries and I can confirm that this is a factor we shall take into account in our decision on the way ahead on the United Kingdom's AEW requirement.