§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average cost was of procuring(a) each
Programme Comment MPR UPC (£ million)
Typhoon MPR 03 56.8 Challenger II battle tank Challenger II last appeared in the MPR in 2000 as delivery concluded in FY 2001–02 3.7 Type 45 destroyer MPR 03.(Includes PAAMS missile systems) 552.7 Astute class submarine The current estimated total resource cost for the three boats on contract of £3.6 billion includes design, development and other costs specific to a first of class. These costs would
not be attributable to further buys should any subsequent orders be made. The National
Audit Office has agreed that a it would be misleading to produce a UPC for Astute at this
stage.
— Nimrod MRA4 No UPC is provided in the MPR, however an indicative figure has been given here. For Nimrod MRA4, a significant part of the Agreement with BAE Systems announced on
19 February by the Minister for Defence Procurement was the separation of production
from design and development until we have seen demonstrated performance from the first
three aircraft used for flight trials. The indicative production cost of Nimrod MRA4 will
thereafter be influenced by the outcome of these design and development results, timing of
build and appropriate contractual negotiations.
60 It should be noted that unit production costs are on a resource account basis and exclude development costs.