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Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will not follow the same line as the hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell).
Mr. Maginnis: Be assured, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that I have no intention of doing so. I am making this point as a basis for what I want to say about ASTOR. As a European nation, we are beginning to recognise that we shall, sooner or later, have to put ground troops into Kosovo. That situation will face us again and again in forthcoming decades if we continue to assume the role of policing the world. The importance of ASTOR capability is further underlined every day by television reports of what is happening in Kosovo. Ultimately, we may have to put in ground troops if we are to resolve the problems faced by the Kosovars.
Should ground troops eventually be deployed, an ASTOR system would offer long-range surveillance of enemy troop movements and facilitate the targeting of precision weapons, missiles and ground attack aircraft. ASTOR would also provide data that would enable more efficient management of refugee movements. Had ASTOR been operational now, accounting for refugees would have been more straightforward. Losing literally thousands of those refugees would have been avoided and, on that basis, humanitarian aid could have been distributed more effectively.
In Northern Ireland, we have a particular interest in the project. Shorts Bombardier, alongside Raytheon, is among the bidders for the programme. Raytheon has selected the Bombardier Global Express business jet as the platform for the radar. The Global Express is an all-new design. It was designed specifically for high-altitude, long-range travel. As it is a new aircraft, it has built-in growth potential, which will enable it to incorporate more functions as required. Moreover, when compared with its competitors, the Global Express has a longer range, superior take-off and landing performance and lower direct operating costs at higher cruise speeds. Significantly, the Global Express also has a higher mission reliability based on performance comparisons with its main rivals.
Global Express is a key programme for Northern Ireland. Shorts alone makes 25 per cent. of the aircraft, including the forward fuselage, engine nacelles, horizontal
stabiliser and other components. About 700 jobs at Shorts depend on Global Express at full production. If the aircraft were selected for the ASTOR programme, 130 new jobs would be created in a three-year period, 30 of them in engineering design, thereby helping to retain a key capability.
The success of the Raytheon bid would also enhance manufacturing industry in other parts of the United Kingdom where help is most needed. More than 350 jobs in Scotland and 400 jobs in Wales depend on the success of the bid. Seventy five per cent. of the ASTOR radar would be designed and manufactured in Edinburgh and Glenrothes, thus creating a new radar technology axis in Scotland, which will provide a new long-term capability. The mission system will be integrated into the Global Express at Broughton in north Wales. The "Celtic fringes" have always been at the forefront of British technology and intellectual expansion. The Raytheon project helps to recreate that dynamic.
Of course, there is a significant English constituency too. Motorola in Basingstoke and RSL in Harlow will provide the ground stations where the information produced by ASTOR will be analysed and passed to the commanders. Data links, which provide the sophisticated communications in ASTOR, will be produced by Ultra Electronics in Greenford, Middlesex.
The hon. Member for Alyn and Deeside (Mr. Jones) pointed out--I do not apologise for endorsing and reiterating the argument--that if Raytheon, which is transferring to the UK technology in radar, systems integration, communications, aircraft modification and manufacture, is awarded the contract, it will have repercussions to the benefit of the United Kingdom as a whole for decades to come. It will give the UK ownership of the entire Raytheon system and that augurs well for the future.
Our policy towards Iraq, which has been reiterated by defence chiefs in the past few weeks in relation to Kosovo, has demonstrated that Britain's security interests are, perhaps more than ever before, tied to the fortunes of the Royal Air Force. Increasingly, military intervention involves air strikes to diminish the capacity of aggressors to wreak war on defenceless civilians. Hence, it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that future British security interests are dependent on the success of the Eurofighter 2000. The United Kingdom is making a £16 billion investment in the EF2000, a massive commitment. It is essential that the aircraft is equipped with the best possible missile. Again, we in Northern Ireland have a special interest in the project. We believe that the Raytheon future medium-range air-to-air missile--FMRAAM--package offers the MOD the best possible solution.
It has been rumoured, and it was repeated tonight by the hon. Members for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) and for Chorley (Mr. Hoyle), that if the Raytheon FMRAAM is selected to arm the aircraft, the United States will use it as a veto on Eurofighter exports. That argument neglects to acknowledge that the United States Secretary of State for Defence has assured the Secretary of State for Defence that that will not happen. He has promised that FMRAAM will not be used as a lever in any future competition between Eurofighter and rival US aircraft. The advanced medium-range air-to-air missile--AMRAAM--on which the Raytheon Shorts FMRAAM is based, has been exported to more than 20 countries
throughout the world. Furthermore, the Eurofighter was designed at the outset to carry AMRAAM. The case for the FMRAAM solution is overwhelming, particularly as the rival missile has yet to be developed. In Northern Ireland, we hope that it will be chosen and that the MOD will show common sense when the time comes to award the contract.
Mr. Harry Cohen (Leyton and Wanstead):
It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone (Mr. Maginnis). I hope that he will excuse me for not taking up the issues that he raised, although I associate myself with his tribute to the workers of Northern Ireland, including those in the defence industry.
Defence procurement forms a large proportion of defence spending and is intimately linked with the roles that the armed forces are asked to fulfil. I agree with the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) that it must be increasingly aimed at peacekeeping and peace support operations as well as war fighting. The armed forces have an important role in humanitarian aid and assistance and equipment procurement must reflect that.
I do not wish to focus on Kosovo, except to say that having British forces involved in fighting helps to focus the mind on what we should equip them with. Although I am not yet convinced that an invasion is the right idea, it is significant that the Government are purchasing 386 Challenger 2 tanks, but the British Army has no easy way of transporting to the Balkans tanks of that size. The Government recently announced that there will be four new roll on/roll off ferries, and that will do something to improve the results of years of Tory mismanagement of that issue. Furthermore, we need to consider a proper heavy lift capability. I agree with the comment made by an earlier speaker that we should not rule out the Antonov even as a partial solution to the heavy lift matter.
Year after year, billions of pounds have been spent on defence equipment by this country and other NATO countries, but NATO's military cannot perform its job in Serbia as quickly as we would like. We are told that the problem is the weather or the topography and that we cannot deal with the killers on the ground. In that respect, it seems to me that we have been slow to put the Apache helicopters into action.
I realise that all those matters will be reviewed. The Chairman of the Select Committee on Defence--of which I am a member--has said that all aspects of the war will be reviewed when it is over. However, in the past, there have been inefficiencies, wrong priorities and--in some cases--rip-offs on the part of the defence industry. That must change, and the Government are making a start to ensure that it does change.
One of the largest areas of procurement is Britain's nuclear weapons programme. What use is the fact that we have nuclear weapons in relation to the fighting in Kosovo? We could never use nuclear weapons against Serbia, or in any similar war. What is the point in keeping them? That is an example of wrong priorities. Procurement for the Trident programme is still taking place, and that money could be saved immediately.
During the Minister's speech, I raised the matter of cruise missiles. I understand from a Press Association report that we bought 65 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the United States for £190 million. On 15 April, The Herald reported that:
"The Royal Navy's only Tomahawk-capable nuclear submarine, HMS Splendid, has fired off six missiles. The tally for that burst of hi-tech fireworks alone is £4.5m."
The BBC's website recently stated that:
"Each of the 100 cruise missiles already launched at Serb military targets by Nato costs more than £835,000."
That is the cost of each one, and more than 100 have already been launched.
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