HC Deb 19 October 1998 vol 317 cc887-8W
Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the UK's decision not to participate in the tri-national project to develop a military satellite. [55361]

Mr. Spellar

In the period up to August this year, the UK had been considering a range of procurement options, covering collaborative, National conventional, and Public Finance Initiative (PFI) options, for satisfying the Project Definition (PD) phase requirements for the next generation of UK military satellite communications, known generically as Skynet 5. The preferred option had been a collaborative programme involving France and Germany, known as Trimilsatcom.

Following a thorough evaluation of the options by the UK, it was clear that Trimilsatcom would not meet the UK's requirements in an affordable way, and would not be ready in time to replace our existing satellites when they went out of service. The assessment also showed that a National PFI approach had the potential to offer an affordable and timely solution. It was therefore decided that the UK would not proceed with the Trimilsatcom PD programme.