§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many AIM-120 B/C AMRAAMS missiles his Department plans to procure from Raytheon; and if he will make a statement. [131490]
§ Dr. MoonieThis is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Procurement Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Robert Walmsley to Mr. Mike Hancock, dated 25 July 2000:
I am replying to your question to the Secretary of State for Defence about the number of Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missiles (AMRAAM) 120B/C MoD intends to procure from Raytheon Systems Company (RSC) in the USA. This matter falls within my area of responsibility as Chief of Defence Procurement and Chief Executive of the Defence Procurement Agency.Disclosure of the information you request would harm UK defence and, accordingly, I am withholding it under exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reason his Department is reducing its order for AMS Brimstone missiles; and if he will make a statement. [131498]
§ Dr. MoonieThe Ministry of Defence keeps the mix of weapons we require under review to ensure that our forward equipment programme reflects the circumstances of the world today and those we expect in the future. Brimstone will be one of a number of anti-armour weapon systems that we will be able to deploy. While there is still a firm requirement for the Brimstone missile, we have544W concluded that we will require fewer missiles than envisaged when the Brimstone contract was placed in 1996.