European Fighter Aircraft (Hansard, 8 February 1988)

§ Mr. Jack
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to receive notification from his West German counterpart of his Government's agreement to the further development phase of the European fighter aircraft.

§ Mr. Sainsbury
The co-ordination of four separate national approvals is necessarily complex, and allowance must be made for the different timings involved. We are encouraging our partners to reach their decisions as quickly as possible.

§ Mr. Jack
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the F18 fighter aircraft or any of its derivatives meets the agreed operational requirements of the proposed European fighter aircraft.

§ Mr. Sainsbury
No.

§ Mr. Jack
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a further statement on the future progress of the European fighter aircraft project.

§ Mr. Sainsbury
Further to the reply I gave to the hon. Members for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) and for Motherwell, North (Dr. Reid) on 10 November 1987 at column 157, the processing of national development submissions in each of the four partner nations is continuing. The development phase will be formally launched as soon as these activities have been brought to a successful conclusion. We expect this to be in the next few months.