64
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE EXPENDITURE COMMITTEE
11 February, 1975.] Mr. A. P. HoOCKADAY, C.B., C.M.G.,
[Continued
Rear Admiral A. S. MORTON, Mr. T. CULLEN, Mr. D. M. EVANS, Mr. G. C. B. DODDS, Mr. A. R. M. JAFFRAY, Mr. J. D. BRYARS and Mr. T. C. G. JAMES, C.M.G.
from civil aircraft?--The more flexible type of aircraft is in fact the military conversion of what were originally civilian types. The Britannia is, of course, going out of the picture. The VC10 remains in the picture and the military VC10 is a much more flexible aircraft than the civil VC10. It has got a strengthened floor and therefore can carry freight as well as passengers.
148. So you are giving up not merely 50 per cent. capacity but also giving up flexibility? We are retaining the VC10s.
149. All of them?- you the figures.
We have given
150. There is a reduction?- a reduction.
-There is
Mr. Finsberg.] So there will be a reduction in flexibility?
Chairman.] In summing this up, the Committee are worried as to what you say in paragraph 28 that you are running it all down by early 1976 when you have still got a certain amount of mobility requirement. If you can really give your reasons why you think you will be able to do all this in your note we will be grateful.
Sir Frederic Bennett.] I hope too the witnesses will cover the point about the powers they have.
Mr. Roper.
151. I hope they will also let us know whether there is any possibility of look- ing at this on a Eurogroup basis of sharing services with other of our Euro- pean allies, because perhaps one country might have an emergency situation, for example like Cyprus, and one of our major allies might be able to assist us with facilities in a situation like that?
-We can certainly cover this in the note. There is in the use of NATO military aircraft from time to time the use of one country's aircraft on a task for another country. This happens, for example, in some of the NATO exercises. It is alas in one's mind that the most serious accident the Royal Air Force has had in recent years was when a RAF Hercules was being used to carry Italian troops, so this does happen. Chairman.
152. Are there any questions on the Royal Air Force Regiment and the
RAF stations? If not, we finish with the RAF and move to section V, impli- cations for R & D and collaborative projects. We might take the first four sections together, 32-36, then 37, then the last two. In setting the new R & D estimates what allowances is made for a reduction in national R & D on the assumption that there will be more collaborative development with our allies? (Mr. Cullen.) In doing this calculation we decided that the fair and prudent thing to do was to allow for collaborative economies in so far as they could be quite plainly foreseen, either a commitment existed or a commitment was coming clearly into view. It is, of course, part of our policy and one which the Secretary of State is driving ahead with very vigorously, to extend the collaborative projects. But we decided we could not fairly take credit for what could only be conjectural.
153. This is a subject very dear to this Committee's heart, in fact all the Secretaries of State and everyone have said how important this is for our allies. But we seem so far to get more words than action. It may be the fault of governments wanting to preserve employ- ment in certain areas in their countries?
(Mr. Hockaday.) This is something towards which one must inevitably only move fairly slowly because one starts from a situation at which you may have slightly different approaches to opera- tional concepts or in which one country is halfway through the life of its current generation of a particular equipment whereas the other is about to replace its equipment, and so on. One has to tackle this collaboratively on a longer term basis with a view to seeking to reconcile operational concepts in the sort of way, for example, in which we are having concept discussions with the Germans over the future generation of tanks for the mid-1980s or thereafter. Likewise one has to plan ahead and see the points at which a number of countries can get together in terms of the kind of thing they want and the time at which they want it in order to set up a worthwhile collaborative project. This is what we are trying to do both within NATO, and generally within the Eurogroup frame-
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