§ Mr. FoulkesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to reconfigure the development programme of Eurofighter 2000.
§ Mr. AitkenThe development programme for Eurofighter 2000 is now being revised to reflect the decisions taken at the quadripartite ministerial meeting on 10 December 1992. First deliveries of production aircraft to the Royal Air Force will be delayed until 2000, and the development programme and associated expenditure will be slowed down, to the maximum extent possible without increasing overall costs and risk, to match this timescale. While the key performance parameters of the aircraft will not be changed, the partner nations are reviewing with the manufacturers the list of possible changes to the aircraft's equipment fit, and changes to the operational requirement, which emerged from the two studies conducted last year. It will be for each nation to decide the extent to which such changes to the aircraft specification are compatible with its military requirements, and if it wishes to take advantage of the cost savings which they offer. These decisions will be reflected in the revised programme and amendments to the inter-government memorandum of understanding which, it is planned, should be signed in the second half of this year.