Helicopters
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the serviceability rate is of (a) Gazelle, (b) Lynx, (c) Sea King, (d) Chinook and (e) Puma helicopters.[44660]
Mr. Ingram [holding reply 19 March 2002]: The serviceability rate for the month of February for (a) Gazelle, (b) Lynx, (c) Sea King, (d) Chinook, and (e) Puma helicopters is shown in the following table: Aircraft type Average serviceability rate Aircraft numbers (actual operating fleet)
Gazelle 55% 116
Lynx 57% 131
Sea King 61% 84
Chinook 56% 27
Puma 64% 35
The hon. Member should note that these figures represent an average taken over the whole month of February. Serviceability figures and influenced by a number of factors and fluctuate daily.
Anti-aircraft Defences
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether anti-aircraft defences in the United Kingdom have combat identification of friend and foe facilities; and what steps he is taking to ensure that all anti-aircraft defences can use information from air traffic control systems. [46612]=20
Mr. Ingram: I can confirm that all Ministry of Defence Rapier Ground Based Air Defence assets are equipped with combat identification friend or foe facilities. These assets would be integrated within the military Airspace Surveillance and Control System and communicate, co-ordinate and integrate with military air traffic control services as necessary. A joint operating instruction combining civil and military air traffic control and air defence actions within United Kingdom flight information regions has recently been published which enhances =
co-ordination of airspace activity. It is planned that Royal Marine and Army man portable air defence systems will have friend or foe identification facilities by 2008 and 2004-05 respectively.=20
Fighter Jets
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the Royal Air Force’s total inventory is of (a) Harrier GR7s, (b) Tornado GR1s and (c) Jaguar GR1s; and how many of each are operationally available. [43635]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 15 March 2002]: On 13 March 2002 there were 74 Harrier GR7 aircraft in the departmental fleet (the total number of aircraft owned by the Ministry of Defence), of which 55 were assigned to the Actual Operating Fleet (the total number of aircraft allocated to meet the fleet task); 23 Tornado GR1 aircraft in the departmental fleet, of which 14 were assigned to the Actual Operating Fleet, and 51 Jaguar GR1 aircraft in the departmental fleet, of which none were assigned to the Actual Operating fleet.
Apache Helicopters
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the progress of the integration of the Hellfire missile on to the Army’s Apache helicopters. [44659]
Dr. Moonie [holding answer 19 March 2002]: Trials of the helicopter and its weapons systems are progressing satisfactorily. We expect the Hellfire missile to be integrated on the helicopter and cleared for training by the end of this year.
Fleet Support Limited Company
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Fleet Support Limited company has (a) met all contractual performance indicators and (b) delivered on time and to cost for all work on Fleet Maintenance and Repair in Portsmouth. [44757]
Mr. Ingram: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Since its formation in 1998, Fleet Support Ltd. (FSL) has undertaken an extensive programme of work on RN and RFA vessels in Portsmouth, during which period not every project has been delivered to time and cost. The reasons for this are complex, vary considerably across the projects concerned and are not necessarily the sole responsibility of the company in each instance. However, the company’s performance overall in the last 12 months has been well within the performance indicators which the Warship Support Agency (