§ Lord Burlisonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What further progress has been made to implement their agreement to the United States' request to upgrade the early warning radar at RAF Fylingdales for missile defence purposes.[HL578]
§ Lord BachIn a Written Statement on 5 February 2003 by my right honourable friend the Defence Secretary(Official Report, Commons, col. 11-12WS) announced in another place that the Government had agreed to a US request to upgrade the early warning radar at RAF Fylingdales as part of the US missile defence programme. The Assistant Chief of the Air Staff, on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, has today signed an agreement setting out the management and 179WA financial arrangements and responsibilities for the radar upgrade. This agreement is made under the framework memorandum of understanding on missile defence that the Defence Secretary announced to the House on 12 June 2003 (Official Report, Commons, col. 57WS), and comes into immediate effect. Design work for the upgrade is already in hand, and upgrade work on site is expected to start in spring 2004, lasting for some 30 months, including testing of the upgraded system and removal of old equipment. I am placing in the Library of the House a copy of this agreement, although one section relating to a technical point on the operation of the radar has been withheld at the request of the US authorities.