§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost of upgrading his Department's stock of Paveway II laser guided bombs to have a Global Positioning System/Inertial Measurement Unit capability; what safeguards would be taken to prevent the jamming of such a system; and if he will make a statement. [115750]
27W
§ Dr. MoonieWe are currently considering lessons learned from Kosovo, including the need to bomb with precision in all weather conditions. However, no decisions have yet been made. Upgrading the Ministry of Defence's stock of Paveway II laser guided bombs to have a Global Positioning System/Inertial Measurement Unit capability is one of the options which are being considered. The disclosure of the estimate of the cost of any such upgrade could disadvantage the MOD in commercial negotiations and I am therefore withholding this information under Exemption 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. If a decision were made to upgrade the weapons, we would consider what safeguards might be put in place to prevent jamming of the system.