1.
SECRET
SECRET
Page 233
FUTURE TACTICAL TRUNK COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM FOR THE SERVICES
The Committee considered a memorandum by the Secretary of State for Defence and the Minister of State, Ministry of Technology (OPD(67) 59)
on the future tactical trunk communications system for the services (Project Mallard).
THE DEFENCE SECRETARY said that the Army and the Royal Air Force would
require a new area communications system from the later 1970s onwards to
replace the system which was just going into service now. In Europe the
problem of nuclear escalation, and the need to maintain close political
control over the forces in the operational area, made it essential to have
a rapid and reliable communications system. The new communications system
must be interoperable with our allies, not only within but also outside
Europe, where we were not planning to engage in any major operations on our
own. The military requirement would be met by a joint system,
Project Mallard, which was based on a concept developed entirely by the
United Kingdom using the advanced techniques of digital switching. The
United States had already decided to adopt the system and had signed a
Memorandum of Understanding to develop it with Canada and Australia. Our European allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), with
the possible exception of France, were also likely to adopt it. By
prolonged negotiation we had succeeded in persuading the United States to
offer us a share of up to 32 per sent in the development of Mallard and to
give us an opportunity of obtaining a substantial share of its production.
The United States had agreed that 50 per cent of their requirements, which
were much larger than ours, should be apportioned under contract procedures
known as Total Package Acquisition which would ensure that the successful
bidder for the final stage of development of each Mallard sub-system (representing about two-thirds of the total development cost) would also
receive a contract for the first production run. Alternatives to Mallard were a national project (known as Figaro) or a separate joint development
with one or more European countries. With a national or European system
additional interface equipment would be essential in order to make the system interoperable with Mallard. At this stage comparative estimates of cost were unreliable; the order of magnitude of the production costs of
Mallard was £60 million. The current American estimate of development
costs was £45 million in all, of which a 32 per cent share would amount to
--1-
SECRET
Page 233
Page 233
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.