§ Mr. RosindellTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether there will be further investment in and upgrades of(a) SkyNet 5, (b) Bowman, (c) Falcon and (d) Watchkeeper. [144687]
§ Mr. IngramAll of these equipment projects are due to come into service on an incremental basis in the period from 2004 to the end of the decade. Our first priority is to ensure that the currently planned capability (including planned upgrades where appropriate) is brought into service on time and to cost. We keep all our equipment capability requirements under review and will consider making further investment in, and upgrades to, these assets if that were the best way of meeting our future capability requirements. For Skynet 5, where we have contracted for service provision for a period of 15 years under PFI arrangements, the contractor will need to invest to meet his service obligations and is incentivised to provide technology refresh during the course of the contract.