§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what future plans there are for the digitalisation of the Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank fleet; what the predicted cost of digitising the Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank fleet is; and when the digitisation of the Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank fleet is due to start. [133708]
§ Mr. IngramThe digitisation of Challenger 2 will be achieved through the installation and integration of Bowman radios, Platform Battlefield Information Systems Application (P BIS A) and the Commander's Crew Station Screen with the current fire control and sighting systems within the tank. This work will be completed by the Design Authority Alvis Vickers Ltd. The approved cost for the Bowman project is £2.073 billion (resource cost, VAT inclusive, for the Demonstration and Manufacture phases) and the approved cost for the Combat Infrastructure and Platform BISA (CIP) project is £410 million (P BISA is an integral part of the CIP project). Both projects involve digitisation of a number of platforms over-and-above Challenger 2, it is therefore not possible to determine the elements attributable to a specific platform. The programme to digitise the Challenger 2 fleet is due to start in January 2004.