My right honourable friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Adam Ingram, has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I am pleased to announce that QinetiQ has been awarded the contract to operate the subsonic target element of the combined aerial target service (CATS) programme worth £364.7 million.

This contract marks a significant step forward towards the delivery of the CATS project. In line with the defence industrial strategy, it will provide a rationalised supplier base for the MoD and will produce savings in the order of 10 per cent of the total cost over the 20-year life of the contract. It will also mean that we have a single service provider for subsonic aerial targets. This contract is a public/private partnership arrangement within which QinetiQ will supply and operate subsonic aerial targets for the Armed Forces.

Supersonic aerial targets will be procured by the Ministry of Defence from the US because they are the only country that currently produces supersonic targets that are available to the UK.