§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Which firms are presently tendering for the conventionally armed stand-off missile for the Nimrod replacement, for the new air-launched anti-tank missile or for any other Ministry of Defence procurement order worth over £500 million; how many former Ministry of Defence civil servants and 5WA former serving officers are currently employed by each of these firms; and which of these firms are British, which are non-British and which are non-European.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Earl Howe)Invitations to tender have been issued to a range of British and overseas companies for five defence equipment contracts expected to be worth substantially in excess of £500 million. These equipments are as follows, with companies invited to tender shown in brackets and prime contractor nationality indicated in italics in each case:
- 1. Replacement maritime patrol aircraft (BAc)(UK); Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems (US); Lockheed Martin Tactical Systems UK (US); Dassault Aviation (French)).
- 2. Conventionally armed stand-off missile (BAc) (UK); CEC Marconi (UK); Hughes Missiles (US); Texas Instruments (US); McDonnell Douglas (US); Taurus (DASA/Bofors) (German/Swedish); Rafael (Israeli));
- 3. Advanced air launched anti-armour weapon (BAe) (UK); GEC Marconi (UK); Hunting Engineering Ltd. (UK); Texas Instruments (US); Thomson Thorn Missiles Electronics (French)).
- 4. Future medium range air-to-air missile (BAe) (UK); Hughes Missiles (US)
- 5. Trafalgar Class submarines (Batch 2) (GEC Marine (UK))
The Government do not retain records of former Ministry of Defence civil servants or former military personnel currently employed by defence contractors.