HC Deb 01 December 1997 vol 302 cc27-8W
Mr. Flight

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much of the in-service date slippage in the production of the COBRA project to date has been due to problems in partner countries; what measures he is undertaking to prevent similar problems in other OCCAR projects; and if he will make a statement. [17914]

Mr. Spellar

The slippage against the original in service date for the Counter Battery Radar (COBRA) system is 108 months. The principal reasons for the slippage are explained in the National Audit Office Major Project Report 1996 (HC238, session 1997–98,15 August 1997). As the report notes:

(a) The timetable was first estimated when the Project Definition phase approved in 1986. The in-service date was reassessed at the end of that phase as a result of a better understanding of the programmed and the work involved. This gave rise to a 23 month slippage from the original estimate.

(b) There were protracted negotiations between the three Governments, UK, France and Germany, and industry before the placement of the Development contract in 1990, which resulted in a further slippage of 36 months.

(c) The original in-service date was based on the assumption that there would be a seamless transition from development to production. This could not be achieved because a reduction in the number of Radars required by Germany invalidated the maximum price production option and led to the need for further development work, the Cost Reduction Programmed, to reduce production costs. This programmed resulted in a further slippage of 42 months.

There has been a further delay of seven months as the result of extended negotiations with EuroArt, the international industrial consortium, over their proposals to enter the production phase. We are currently assessing those proposals.

There are currently no UK collaborative projects being managed by Organisme Conjoint de Cooperation en matiere d'Armament (OCCAR), although we hope progressively to integrate projects, including COBRA, into the organisation. It is a primary aim of OCCAR to improve on past performance in the management of collaborative programmers. We will actively press for the adoption of best practice procurement techniques as part of our contribution to the development of OCCAR's procedures.