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PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS

July 10, 2020 by

House of Commons and House of Lords Hansard Written Answers

Q

Asked by Mr Kevan Jones

(North Durham)

Asked on: 29 June 2020

Ministry of Defence

Merlin Helicopters

65947

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the retirement dates are for the Royal Navy’s Merlin helicopters.

A

Answered by: Jeremy Quin

Answered on: 07 July 2020

The Royal Navy’s Merlin Mark 2 and Mark 4/4A helicopters are currently planned to go out of service in 2029 and 2030 respectively. The Ministry of Defence keeps the out of service dates for all equipment under regular and routine review.

Q

Asked by Mr Kevan Jones

(North Durham)

Asked on: 01 July 2020

Ministry of Defence

AWACS: Procurement

67567

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.

A

Answered by: Jeremy Quin

Answered on: 07 July 2020

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.

Q

Asked by Mr Kevan Jones

(North Durham)

Asked on: 01 July 2020

Ministry of Defence

AWACS: Procurement

67568

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what consideration his Department made of the Prosperity Agenda throughout the procurement process for the E-7 Wedgetail.

A

Answered by: Jeremy Quin

Answered on: 07 July 2020

In making major acquisitions the Department considers the capabilities required, the value for money for the taxpayer and the benefit to UK Prosperity. In the case of E-7 Wedgetail skilled modification work will be undertaken in the UK by STS Aviation at Birmingham Airport. The Ministry of Defence remains committed to maximising UK industrial and supply chain participation in the E-7 Wedgetail programme, and we expect further opportunities for British suppliers in future training, infrastructure and support arrangements in due course.

Q

Asked by Dr Julian Lewis

(New Forest East)

[N]

Asked on: 30 June 2020

Ministry of Defence

Type 45 Destroyers: Repairs and Maintenance

66798

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the engine modification programme for the six Type-45 destroyers, if he will publish for each destroyer the (a) nature of the original engine design fault; (b) proposed remedy; (c) estimated sea-time lost annually; (d) scheduled completion date for each upgraded vessel; (e) estimate of the additional cost of the upgrade and (f) recovery of the additional cost of making the ships seaworthy to be borne by (i) the engine designer, (ii) defence manufacturers and (iii) the public purse; and if he will make a statement.

A

Answered by: Jeremy Quin

Answered on: 06 July 2020

In 2011, an independent study commissioned by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) reported there was “no single root cause underlying the low reliability” experienced in the Type 45 Destroyers but a “large group of unconnected individual causes”. It nevertheless concluded that Integrated Full Electric Propulsion remained a sound choice for the Type 45 Class. The nature of the interrelated defects associated with the fully integrated propulsion system masked the true extent of the inherent design shortcomings.

Subsequent experience gained by deploying the ships to the most demanding operational environments revealed that the original design intent of operating the ship whilst running the WR21 gas turbine alone was flawed. The system in this mode was still not capable of delivering the desired level of reliability and the power generated by the ships’ diesels meant that they could not provide the resilience required. Only the installation of additional diesel generators would allow these shortfalls to be addressed.

For further details of the technical issues with the Type 45 Power and Propulsion System I would refer the rt. hon. Member to the Independent Power and Propulsion System Performance Review, dated March 2011, a copy of which, redacted in accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, was placed in the Library of the House on 13 May 2016.

In 2014, Project Napier was established with two core strands. First, the Equipment Improvement Plan (EIP) which has built on the work to enhance system reliability and to meet the original design intent in the near term. This work has delivered positive results with increases to availability across the fleet. In the longer term, the Power Improvement Plan (PIP) will improve system resilience by adding upgraded diesel generators to provide the electrical generation capacity required to meet many propulsion and power requirements without reliance on WR21 gas turbine.

All Type 45 Destroyers will receive new diesel generators under the £160 million PIP conversion programme. Work is currently underway on HMS DAUNTLESS, the first ship to enter the programme, and she will return to sea for trials in 2021. Following completion of these sea trials, she will re-join the fleet. It is planned that all six Type 45 ships will have received the upgrade by the mid-2020s.

The programme is dependent on the availability of ships to undertake the upgrade, balanced against the Royal Navy’s current and future operational commitments. PIP conversions will be planned to take into account the regular Upkeep cycle to maximise the overall class availability. The first of class embodiment is expected to take 13 months from docking to enable a comprehensive suite of sea trials to prove the capability.

The issue of liability stems from decisions taken early in the programme. This includes the main investment decision by the MOD in July 2000 to proceed with a Type 45 design based on an Integrated Full Electric Propulsion solution and subsequent selection of the WR21 gas turbine. As the issues now being addressed result from those earlier decisions, it is appropriate that liability for funding this work now rests with the MOD. A number of early modifications were implemented under the Type 45 Destroyer Contract for Availability arrangement with BAE Systems at no additional cost to the MOD.

The Type 45 Destroyers are hugely capable ships and have been deployed successfully on a range of operations world-wide and they continue to make an enormous contribution to the defence of the UK and our international partners.

Q

Asked by Mr Kevan Jones

(North Durham)

[N]

Asked on: 01 July 2020

Ministry of Defence

AWACS: Procurement

67564

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether all conversion work for the E-7 Wedgetail will be undertaken in the UK.

A

Answered by: Jeremy Quin

Answered on: 06 July 2020

In May of this year, Boeing announced that a contract had been signed with STS Aviation to carry out the modification of the base 737 Next Generation civil airliner into E7 aircraft at Birmingham Airport.

Q

Asked by Mr Kevan Jones

(North Durham)

[N]

Asked on: 01 July 2020

Ministry of Defence

AWACS: Procurement

67565

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department made of the cost of acquiring IP for the E-7 Wedgetail aircraft in order for support and maintenance work to be undertaken in the UK.

A

Answered by: Jeremy Quin

Answered on: 06 July 2020

There is no requirement for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to procure the Intellectual Property Rights in order for support of the E-7 Wedgetail aircraft to be carried out in the UK. The aircraft acquisition contract provides the MOD with specified rights to share repair and maintenance information with suitably qualified organisations, subject to a licence agreement being in place with Boeing.

Q

Asked by Mr Kevan Jones

(North Durham)

[N]

Asked on: 01 July 2020

Ministry of Defence

AWACS: Procurement

67566

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what comparative estimate his Department made of support and maintenance work for the E-7 Wedgetail being undertaken in the UK and US.

A

Answered by: Jeremy Quin

Answered on: 06 July 2020

Work is currently underway to define the support requirements for the RAF E-7 Wedgetail fleet, and it is too early to provide any further details at this time.

Q

Asked by Lord West of Spithead

Asked on: 21 May 2020

Cabinet Office

UK Relations with EU: Galileo System

HL4882

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the EU on access to Galileo as part of negotiations on the future UK–EU relationship.

A

Answered by: Lord True

Answered on: 03 July 2020

The UK and the EU discussed the Galileo programme during the Withdrawal Agreement negotiations. The EU’s offer then on Galileo did not meet the UK’s defence and industrial requirements.

Q

Asked by Mr Kevan Jones

(North Durham)

Asked on: 26 June 2020

Ministry of Defence

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft: Procurement

65088

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of the unit procurement cost for the F-35B following the reduction in the number of those aircraft procured by the United State Marine Corps; and what the current unit procurement cost is for the F-35B.

A

Answered by: Jeremy Quin

Answered on: 03 July 2020

The UK’s first aircraft was delivered in 2012 for $161 million; today, the Lot 11 cost of an F-35B is $115.5 million. Future Lots will be subject to commercial negotiation.

 

 

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