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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence why he appointed OCCAR to enter into the contract for A400M aircraft on behalf of the United Kingdom; what direct control and influence he will exercise over the conduct and outcome of the project; what the arrangements are for this; and what power the UK has to withdraw from the contract if progress is not satisfactory. [117507] Mr. Ingram: The Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation (OCCAR) was established by France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom with the primary aim of providing improved management of co- operative defence equipment programmes. OCCAR uses management processes and procedures that have been developed in conjunction with the founder nations and which follow international best practice. In this light, the nations participating in A400M concluded that OCCAR provided the optimum route for managing the programme. The A400M partner nations have jointly agreed the high level objectives for the programme and the boundaries within which the OCCAR Executive Administration (EA) will operate. The working parameters are set out in the mandate that assigns the responsibility for managing the programme to OCCAR. Under this mandate, the Director of the OCCAR-EA is directly accountable to the A400M Programme Board, on which the nations are represented by their National Armaments Directors, for the delivery of this programme. The A400M contract provides the nations with termination rights in a number of circumstances, including failure to achieve a critical milestone or deliver an individual aircraft within a set period.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

117507; 407 c51W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Germany France Procurement Military aircraft Italy A400M aircraft OCCAR

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk