And today we can reveal
that in a memorandum,
the then Enterprise,
Trade and Investment
minister, Angela Smith
told a parliamentary se-
lect committee that
Raytheon's Derry base
also worked on the AS-
TOR system.
The Department of En-
terprise, Trade and In-
vestment today con-
firmed the document's
authenticity, and, when
asked if it never made
this information avail-
able to Derry City Coun-
cil, a spokesman said
DETI was never asked.
Dated February 27 2006,
Angela Smyth's memo-
randum to the select
committee on defence is
freely available on the
internet, as a Hansard
report, the official
record of parliamentary
proceedings.
When Raytheon first set
up in Derry, with the
support of then MPs
John Hume and David
Trimble, it suggested
that some work would
be done on software for
the Airborne Stand-Off
Radar (ASTOR) system,
a surveillance system to
transfer detailed infor-
mation from military
planes to the ground
about forces, infrastruc-
ture and vehicles.

Anti-war campaigners
demanded that the firm
should not be allowed to
operate in the North
West but Derry City
Council, while con-
demning the arms trade,
has said it was given as-
surances that
Raytheon's work in the
city had no military ap-
plication.
But Ms Smyth's mem-
orandum said: "A sub-
sidiary of the US
Raytheon Corporation,
the Northern Ireland
operation is involved in
leading-edge work in
phased array radar sys-
tem and the develop-
ment of leading-edge
software for civil and
military air traffic con-
trol systems.
"The company has par-
ticipated in major MoD
contracts, including the
ASTOR and JETTS pro-
grammes."
A DETI spokesman said:
"DETI can confirm that
the memorandum by
Angela Smith MP, as re-
ported in Hansard, is ac-
curate."
David McAuley, a mem-
ber of Derry Anti War
Coalition, said today:
"Are the council now go-
ing to act on their mo-
tion?"