§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the United Kingdom taxpayer's investment in the research and development of the US Ballistic Missile Defence Organisation is in the Defence Estimates and if so where; whether patents have been or are being taken out; and what control they have over the transfer of these technologies, over the uses to be made of them, and over subsequent commercial exploitation.
Earl HoweThere is no direct UK investment in the US ballistic missile defence programme. Collaboration between the UK and the US on ballistic missile defence is carried out under the terms of the 1985 Strategic Defence Initiative Memorandum of Understanding, the UK contribution to which is formed by various core programme research items. The arrangements surrounding intellectual property rights incorporated in the Memorandum of Understanding are both classified and confidential to the parties.