§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proposals he has evaluated for a heavy lift aircraft for HM forces to be manufactured by the Airbus consortium. [45277]
§ Mr. SpellarA provisional Request for Proposals has been issued to Airbus, Turkish Aerospace Industries, Alenia and FLABEL pending the formation of Airbus Military Company. We are still discussing with our partners when Requests for Proposals will be issued to potential suppliers under competitive arrangements. A procurement decision will be made in the light of the conclusions of the Strategic Defence Review and of the responses to the Request for Proposals.