§ Lord Craig of Radleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Following the delay in the entry to service of the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft to the end of' 2002 announced in Parliament on 23 May (HC Deb, 477W) and the further announcement on 5 December (HC Deb, 84WS) of another delay to the end of June 2003, what will be the hand-over dates of the first operational aircraft to the air forces of the partner countries in this programme; and what financial and other penalties will be borne by the Ministry of Defence resulting from this further delay. [HL586]
§ Lord BachNone of the partner nation air forces will be able to take delivery of Typhoon before joint type acceptance and the subsequent verification processes have been completed. As we stated On 5 December, we do not expect this to be achieved before the end of June 2003. Actual hand-over dates will be a matter for the individual governments concerned.
Typhoon is being procured under fixed price contracts. The Ministry of Defence does not anticipate any signficant financial or other penalties to result from the delay as we aim to adhere to the planned operational employment date for Typhoon, and replace existing fleets on schedule. The financial and schedule effects of the loss of a development aircraft in November are still being investigated.