Mr. O'NeillTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his oral statement of 19 February,Official Report, columns 331–32, how many new satellites will be ordered; in which years they will be ordered; and how much money will be spent on their procurement in each year up to 1997.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkWe expect to place a firm-price, incentivised order for the production, launch and in-orbit 611W testing of two Skynet 4 stage 2 satellites in autumn 1993. This order will be subject to the outcome of project definition, the contract for which was placed with British Aerospace plc. earlier this month. We expect the total cost of this programme to be in the order of £300 million at 1991 prices. It is not our practice to publish details of our future expenditure plans on a year-by-year basis.