§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the cost of procurement of the Mobile Artillery Monitoring Battlefield Radar for the Royal Artillery; what is the time scale for this programme and the total cost; and if he will make a statement. [122375]
§ Dr. MoonieThe MAMBA programme covers the procurement of radar systems to meet the Army's requirement for a lightweight and mobile weapon locating radar. It is currently in the concept stage of the procurement process and it is planned to commence the assessment phase in June 2000 when the procurement options and associated costs will be addressed in detail.
The current plan is for the radar systems to be in Service by 2008–09. However, in order to satisfy a capability gap identified by the Service Customer, it is planned to provide an initial operating capability by 2002–03 with the balance of deliveries by 2008–09.