Military Aircraft: Helicopters

Mr. Carswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Defence Industrial Strategy in procuring helicopters to meet the needs of the armed forces. (209597)

We have made significant progress in the helicopter sector since the publication of the Defence Industrial Strategy. The Strategic Partnering Arrangement with AgustaWestland has helped improve responsiveness and predictability through, for example, improved spares availability and adoption of a joint modification service.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) required and (b) actual helicopter crew numbers are of each helicopter type in the (i) Army Air Corps, (ii) Fleet Air Arm and (iii) Royal Air Force. (210655)

The numbers of aircrew are shown in the following table.

	Required strength	Actual strength
Army Air Corps
Apache AH Mk 1	134	93
Lynx Mk 7/9	208	192
Gazelle Mk1	98	104
AgustaA109	5	6
Bell 212	24	23

School of Army Aviation¹	46	43

Royal Navy
Sea King Mk 4/6c	131	117
Lynx Mk 3/8	100	96
Merlin Mk 1	169	139
Sea King Mk 5	62	45
Sea King Mk 7	45	43

Royal Air Force
Chinook Mk 2/2a	249	229
Puma Mk 1	131	136
Merlin Mk 3/3a	140	127
SAR Sea King Mk3/3a	132	126

Defence Helicopter Flying School
Squirrel	30	29
Griffin	54	52
¹ SAAVN figures cannot be split by aircraft type (AH/Squirrel/Lynx/Gazelle).

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether a service helicopter was flying at grid reference GR 214 384, over land at Fiddington, adjacent to Clayton Lane, near Tewkesbury, on 4 December 2007, between 4.15 pm. and 4.45 pm. (211236)

One Army Gazelle helicopter was operating in and out of the Ashchurch vehicle depot, and passed near to the stated location at 16.32 on the day in question.

Volume 477: debated on Monday 16 June 2008