House of Lords 04 Aug 08: Armed Forces: Complex Weapons

Lords Answer 04 Aug 08
Armed Forces: Complex Weapons
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majestys Government:
Further to the Written Statement by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 15 July (WS 58) on complex weapons, what work has been undertaken on the project for an Indirect Fire Precision Attack Loitering Munition; what relevant contracts have been entered into; and what is the cost to public funds to date of work on that project; and [HL5035] Further to the Written Statement by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 15 July (WS 58) on complex weapons, what work has been undertaken on the project for a Future Air-to-Surface Guided Weapon; what relevant contracts have been entered into; and what is the cost to public funds to date of work on that project; and [HL5036] Further to the Written Statement by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 15 July (WS 58) on complex weapons, what work has been undertaken on the project for Selected Precision Effects at Range; what relevant contracts have been entered into; and what is the cost to public funds to date of work on that project; and [HL5037] Further to the Written Statement by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 15 July (WS 58) on complex weapons, what work has been undertaken on the project for a Storm Shadow Capability Enhancement Programme; what relevant contracts have been entered into; and what is the cost to public funds to date of work on that project; and [HL5038]
Further to the Written Statement by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 15 July (WS 58) on complex weapons, what work has been undertaken on the project for Future Local Area Air Defence Systems; what relevant contracts have been entered into; and what is the cost to public funds to date of work on that project. [HL5039]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): Two enabling contracts have been placed to undertake the work associated with the assessment phase (AP) for complex weapons, announced on 15 July 2008. One of these contracts has been placed with MBDA (UK) Ltd and covers work on the Indirect Fire Precision Attack Loitering Munition (IFPA LM), Future Air to Surface Guided Weapon (Heavy) (FASGWH), Selected Precision Effects at Range (SPEAR), Future Local Area Air Defence System (FLAADS), and Storm Shadow Capability Enhancement (SSCEP) programmes.
The second enabling contract has been placed with Thales UK for work on the Future Air to Surface Guided Weapon (Light) (FASGWL) programme. These two contracts are linked through a further contract, referred to as a teaming agreement (TA), which has been signed by the Ministry of Defence and all the industrial members of Team CW. The TA and the enabling contracts will be used to test this innovative approach towards the acquisition and support of complex weapons. These contracts follow earlier concept phase work, particularly on the systems to meet the IFPA LM and FASGW requirements, and related research and technology activity, particularly on technologies for Storm Shadow and on the system proposal to meet the FLAADS requirement.
The work associated with these AP enabling contracts builds on the early studies and technology development, and includes elements from continuing detailed concept work to understand and develop system solutions to development activity for those system proposals which are more advanced.
The Team CW approach is based on using funding across the six projects flexibly, by treating them as a single programme. The value of the first payment against these contracts is some 17 million. MoD expenditure on the earlier concept phase and research activity against these five military requirements has amounted to some 25 million.