The Royal Navy has no plans to implement the £500m Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) on its Type 45 destroyers and future Type 26 frigates, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has confirmed.
The US-developed CEC system would have pooled data from radar and sensors on a variety of Royal Navy and RAF assets to provide a more detailed picture of the surrounding area and threats to all ships and aircraft involved.
The system theoretically allows an incoming enemy aircraft or missile to be detected by any CEC-equipped destroyer or surveillance aircraft, with details relayed to a targeted ship before its own sensors are aware of the threat.
The decision not to commit to purchasing CEC was made during the MoD's Planning Round '12, the nine-month planning process which allowed the ministry to announce it had balanced its budget.
Speaking during defence questions in the House of Commons, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the Royal Navy had identified CEC as a "lesser priority" during the PR12 process. In January ministers announced that the 'main gate' approval for the programme was due to have taken place in mid-2012, with the system expected to enter service on Type 45 destroyers in 2018.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: "Cooperative Engagement Capability has not been cut; it was never in the committed core equipment programme.
"The MoD's comprehensive assessment of CEC informed the decision made during PR12 that it was not necessary to commit to purchasing the capability at this stage. As the Defence Secretary made clear last month, the MoD budget has headroom of £8bn over the next 10 years for potential new programmes. The Armed Forces Committee will prioritise which projects to commit to when necessary, and not before.
"The T45 Destroyer provides a world leading, state-of-the-art anti-air warfare platform with a range of capabilities for defeating complex threats."
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