BECKET
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1
Telephone 01- 930 8440 Ext 632
I D Dawson Esq,
DS8
Ministry of Defence,
Main Building Whitehall
LONDON SW1.
Your reference
D/DS 8/39/8
Our reference
HKK 10/1
Date
11 February 1975
Dear Dawson,
CLOSURE OF 117 SIGNALS UNIT HONG KONG
HLXI
REF.
240 One (83)
1. You wrote to me on 20 December about the proposed closure of 117 Signals Unit. I have now heard from Hong Kong that the Hong Kong Government are most concerned about this proposal, and have been cre« more concerned that (as appears from paragraph three of your letter) it is contemplated that closure might be effected by mid 1975.
2. Preliminary talks in Hong Kong involving, of course, the Civil Aviation Department have made it clear that at present, regardless of its other functions, the Unit is an essential part of the local air traffic control system. The same point was apparently made by CBF in paragraph thirty-five of his paper 6060 HQBF of 2 July 1974 on Force Levels in Hong Kong. If the Unit were to be closed downI before alternative facilities were available there would be a significant decrease in KaiTak Airport's ATC system capacity in busy periods, which in some circumstances could have serious repercussions on aircraft traffic handling and their safety. in mind delivery dates Hong Kong could hardly hope, however fast they move, to replace the Tai Mo Shan radar installation before the middle of 1977 at the earliest and then only at considerable capital expenditure.
Bearing
3. In these circumstances the Secretary for Security's preliminary views are as follows:
(1)
(11)
117 Signals Unit is part of the Defence Review package and he was glad to note the comment to this effectin your letter to me of 20 December.
Hong Kong would oppose the closure of the local air traffic control operation of the 117 Signals Unit before 1 April 1976 and would expect to be given the necessary adequate notice to develop an alternative facility. Their current assessment is that 2 years notice would be required
from the date of agreement to any future closure.
(iii) For the period between 1 April 1976 and 22 years from
the date of agreement, referred to in (ii), the Hong
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/Kong