§ Sir Nicholas BonsorTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the nature of the fault in the round due to be fired from the AS90 at the demonstration on 16 November; what was the country of manufacture of the round; why 155 mm artillery shells of foreign manufacture are in service with the Royal Artillery; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. AitkenThe failure to fire by an AS90 howitzer in the opening moments of the otherwise very impressive demonstration of this new equipment on 16 November was caused by a defective primer which failed to ignite the propelling charge. This is a rare event and initial indications are that it may have been due to incomplete filling of the primer, which was manufactured in Germany. Other elements of the round in question were manufactured in the United Kingdom. 155 mm ammunition currently in 603W use was procured initially for the FH70 gun under the terms of the tri-national MOU with Germany and Italy which governed this project.