SECRET
I think it extremely unfortunate that, in his letter of 15th November 1972, the Chief Staff Officer at HQBF should have assured the Director of Civil Aviation that the status of 117 SU would remain unchanged for the next decade. That must rank high as one of the worst prophesies made in the defence field but, as the letter makes clear, it was made without any consultation with MOD and it cannot under any circumstances be regarded as forming any sort of commitment to continue to operate the radar irrespec- tive of a military requirement.
What we are prepared to do, however, is to continue to provide the necessary RAF personnel to man the radar until 1 April 1976, provided that the cost of these personnel is borne by the Hong Kong Government. Such an arrangement would, of course, be entirely outside the current discussions between the two Governments about the size of, and cost-sharing arrangements for, the future garrison. We would hope that by 1 April 1976, the Hong Kong authorities would have succeeded in making arrangements with Cable and Wireless or some other suitable firm for continued operation of the radar.
This leads logically to the second question. Our understanding is that the local US representative in Hong Kong has now confirmed direct to the Hong Kong authorities that he received authority on 26 June to continue the supply of spares from 13th Air Force in the Phillipines. If this is so, then there is now an assured basis for the continuance of the radar operation, and the only issue is the question of RAF operating costs referred to above.
In considering this question of costs, it is perhaps fair to point out that if the Hong Kong authorities had not received the letter of the 15th November 1972, they would presumably have gone ahead with installing their own radar, for which they would have had to pay the full operating costs. As it is, they are now faced with the prospect of having to pay for the cost of RAF operation for a short period and it is by no means clear that this will be significantly more expensive than operating their own radar.
However, I would not wish to appear to be making debating points. The fact is that we cannot now justify bearing the continuing cost of operating this radar on Defence Votes and if the Hong Kong authorities are not prepared to pay the cost then we shall have no option but to withdraw the remaining 117 SU personnel. Since we have to have reasonable time to make the necessary personnel withdrawal arrangements, I am afraid that I must ask for a final decision by 1st August.
سما
sui cerely,
BE ROBSON
SECRET
Robo