§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the fleet of 18 Nimrod MRA.4 Maritime Patrol Aircraft will be operational; why these have been delayed; how much the aircraft will cost; how much they were originally expected to cost; and if he will make a statement. [104238]
§ Mr. IngramMy noble Friend the Minister for Defence Procurement (Lord Bach) announced in another place on 19 February 2003,Official Report, columns 175–77W, that, as a result of the recent agreement with BAE SYSTEMS to restructure the Nimrod MRA4 contract, the revised in-service date is 2009. This is now defined as the delivery of the sixth series production aircraft. The balance of the 18 aircraft fleet is envisaged to be delivered during the subsequent period to mid 2011. The reasons for the delay are those that are indicated by the reply my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Dr. Moonie) gave to the hon. Member for Newark (Patrick Mercer) on 10 December 2002, Official Report, columns 222–23W. The Agreement with BAE SYSTEMS recognises the delays that have occurred on this programme by deferring the start of series production of later aircraft until we have seen demonstrated performance from the first three flight trials aircraft. When an appropriate level of design maturity has been reached (and we envisage this to be in late 2005), we will then be in a position to finalise the negotiations with the Company over the production price of the remaining number of aircraft. As my hon. Friend also indicated in his statement of 19 February, the MOD has agreed to make a contribution to this restructured programme of an additional £270 million. Subject to on-going negotiations, this increase therefore brings the expected contract value to some £2,600 million at current prices. I have nothing further to add to the statement made by my hon. Friend on 19 February 2003.