Mr. O'NeillTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his oral statement of 19 February,Official Report, columns 331–32, when he will be placing a contract to convert the Royal Navy's Lynx mark three helicopter to mark eight standard; how much this will cost; how much money will be spent in each of the next three years on this conversion; and when it will be completed.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkSubject to the agreement of acceptable contractual terms, we expect to sign a contract with Westland for conversion of the first seven Lynx mark three airframes to mark eight standard by the end of this month. The work is planned to be completed within three and a half years. The overall cost will be in the order of £20 million. It is not our practice to publish details of our future expenditure plans on a year-by-year basis.