§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the amount spent by the Government on research into missile defence technology in each year since 1988; and if he will make a statement. [142196]
§ Mr. Hoon[holding reply 10 December 2003]: Expenditure by the United Kingdom Government on research specific to Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) technology began in 1994–96 when the Pre-feasibility Programme was undertaken. This examined options, costs and timescales of BMD for the UK and its deployed forces at a cost of £2 million in Financial Year 1994–95 and £2.5 million in Financial Year 1995–96. An extension was completed in Financial Year 1997–98 at a cost of £300,000.
As part of the Corporate Research programme, the Technology Readiness and Risk Assessment Programme (TRRAP) began in July 1998 following an SDR recommendation, focussing on BMD defence of deployed forces. TRRAP cost £2.2 million, £4.5 million, £5 million and £0.8 million in the Financial Years 1998–99 to 2001–02 respectively and completed in July 2001.
Alongside and following TRRAP, a programme of BMD studies ran from Financial Year 1998–99 to Financial Year 2002–03 at a cost of £0.5 million pa. In Financial Years 2001–02 and 2002–03 two further programmes examined the longer-range threat at a cost of £1.2 million per annum and assessed the significance of any capability gap at a cost of £0.6 million per annum.
In Financial Year 2001–02 research into theatre BMD building on TRRAP began at a recurring cost of £1 million per annum. Additionally in Financial Year 2003–04, £4 million will be expended on research through the Missile Defence Centre.
In summary, expenditure in the 10 successive Financial Years since 1994– 95 is set in the table below: