§ Lord Astor of Heverasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the remaining weight issues with the Joint Strike Fighter. [HL4755]
§ Lord BachWeight issues are being addressed across the aircraft system as a whole. Design changes to drive out the excess weight of the STOVL variant have been identified by the Joint Strike Fighter prime contractor and reviewed by the US Department of Defense. We are now in the process of considering the changes, against the background of our key user requirements.
§ Lord Astor of Heverasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the memorandum of understanding signed by the Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, the then Defence Procurement Minister, committing the Government, as a level one participant, to invest £1.3 billion and a further £600 million towards specific British requirements, secured access to the software codes for the avionics on the Joint Strike Fighter; and, if not, whether such access was sought and refused. [HL4846]
§ Lord BachIt was recognised at the time of signature of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the system demonstration and development phase of the Joint Strike Fighter programme that access to technology would be required but that this would need to be secured incrementally as the programme progressed and specific information needs were identified. The MoU is supplemented by an exchange of letters between the UK and US Defence Secretaries, which, inter alia, identify the principle of data sharing.
In line with this approach, access to such avionics software required at this stage to enable both the MoD and UK companies to participate as key partners in the design and development of the aircraft has been achieved.
Further technology access to meet the full exchange of letters requirements in the future is also being progressed jointly with UK industry and in close consultation with the Joint Strike Fighter project office. We will continue to work closely with the US to gain assurances that the technology required will be available to the UK when needed.