HL Deb 18 October 2001 vol 627 cc104-6WA
Lord Hardy of Wath

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they have any plans or are giving consideration to any proposal to acquire or to develop small diameter bombs whether fixed-target or mobile-target character. [HL318]

Lord Bach

The small diameter bomb (SDB) is an American programme, at the early stages of development. It is being designed principally as a precision guided munition for future aircraft with internal bomb carriages.

The UK does not currently have any plans to commit to the SDB programme, which is unlikely to meet our required precision guided bomb in-service date of 2006. However, high level studies to assess the optimum weapon configuration for future aircraft and the precision guided bomb assessment phase will inform the debate as to the merits of such a programme.