asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much they expect to spend on urgent operational requirements for equipment this year; and how much will be spent on each of the 10 largest urgent operational requirement projects. [HL5353]
We have agreed with HM Treasury an estimate for reserve expenditure on UORs in 2008-09 of £900 million. We have not yet agreed estimates for potential UOR costs beyond this. UORs are designed to fulfil unforeseeable urgent capability gaps identified by commanders in the field driven by the situation on the ground, and as such can only be forecast with limited accuracy.
The 10 largest UOR projects to date, with costs expected to fall this financial year, are shown by their financial approval in the table below:
Approval figure (EM) UOR 166 RIDGBACK 96 TALISMAN 51 Indirect Fire Sense and Warn 40 Jackal Uplift 38 Warrior Up-armouring 32 CVR(T) Modifications 30 Viking Specialist Variants 24 Mastiff Ambulances and Training Vehicles 22 Alternative Apache Munitions 21 Chinook Modifications