Mr. O'NeillTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 20 May,Official Report, column 188, whether he has used the different estimated development costs for a possible WE177 replacement to calculate an average estimated development cost for a possible WE177 replacement.
§ Mr. AitkenNo, Sir. Differences in estimated potential development costs are a result of differences betweeen the programmes on which they are based. An average of such figures would be meaningless.
Mr. O'NeillTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 20 May,Official Report, column 188, whether he has considered releasing an estimated development cost for a possible WE177 replacement which is sufficiently imprecise to avoid prejudicing his future negotiating position with potential suppliers.
§ Mr. AitkenI have considered the hon. Member's suggestion, but the relatively large difference in cost between the options being evaluated means that any published estimates would be misleading.