asked Her Majesty's Government:

Why the Ministry of Defence has decided to sole-source the CTA 40mm cannon for Warrior FRES, given the lack of manufacturing facility and qualification for the ammunition. [HL3055]

The MoD has down selected, subject to commercial undertakings, the cannon developed by CTAi (an Anglo/French Joint Venture company between BAE Systems Land Systems and Nexter) for both Warrior and FRES Scout programmes, as it meets the lethality requirements of both systems, and a single common solution is more efficient and effective. The programme is still in the concept phase and work continues to determine the associated ammunition requirements. Identification of a manufacturing facility and qualification of ammunition, will, of course, be addressed as part of this work.