19. To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department is taking to procure an alternative to the Snatch Land Rover. (246458)

We are already replacing Snatch Land Rover with Snatch Vixen. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence said in his written ministerial statement of 16 December 2008, Official Report, columns 103-04WS, we do not believe that there is a better vehicle than Snatch Vixen currently available anywhere in the world to fulfil the Light Protected Patrol Vehicle requirement. But we are also looking to the future and anticipating new threats, and we have begun a programme to develop the next generation of these vehicles which will in due course take the place of Snatch Vixen.