§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons the ASRAAM missile is not to be equipped to Harrier(a) GR7 and (b) GR9 variants. [76345]
§ Dr Lewis MoonieWe are currently upgrading our Harrier GR7 fleet to GR9. Shortly before such a major upgrade, it was not considered cost effective to carry out such substantial modifications.
Consideration was given to equipping the Harrier GR9 with ASRAAM as part of the upgrade programme. However, as the Harrier GR fleet is already equipped with the Sidewinder AIM9-L for defensive purposes, and the purpose of the GR9 upgrade is to improve offensive capability, it was concluded that fitting of ASRAAM would not represent the best use of Ministry of Defence resources.