Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost of the absence of technical conversion, support or maintenance work on the E-7 Wedgetail contract for future contracts.

The E-7 acquisition contract let with Boeing in March 2019 included costs associated with the conversion of the base 737 Next Generation airliners into E-7 aircraft.

In common with other projects of this scale and complexity, an incremental approach is being taken for future support and maintenance work, with contracts being let at the appropriate point to ensure these services are in place when required, and not before. These arrangements will be subject to commercial negotiation at the relevant time, in order to seek best value for money for defence and the taxpayer.