Helicopters Mr. Harper To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the current percentage shortfall is of required spares for each helicopter type in the (a) Army Air Corps, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Royal Air Force. Mr. Bob Ainsworth In providing logistic support to UK military helicopters, the focus is moving from spares availability to guaranteed aircraft availability. Merlin, Sea King and Chinook spares support is already contracting through availability contracts with industry. The percentage of spares demands satisfied direct from MOD stocks in June 2007 have been listed in the table. Spare parts availability for all of these aircraft has been sufficient to meet operational commitments. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Aircraft platform |Owner service|Spares satisfaction rates (percentage)| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Attack Helicopter |Army |77 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |RTM322 engine |— |94 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Chinook |RAF |94 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |T55 engine |— |96 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Gazelle |Army |96 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Astazou 3N2 engine |— |99 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |LynxMk3/Mk8 |RN |192 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |LynxMk7/Mk9 |Army |192 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Gem engine |— |99 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Merlin Mk1 |RN |180 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Merlin Mk3 |RAF |180 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |RTM322 engine |— |94 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Puma |RAF |96 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Turmo engine |— |92 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Sea King Mk3 |RAF |192 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Sea King Mks4, 6, 6c and 7 |RN |192 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Gnome engine |— |95 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1 Across this aircraft type.| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Fox To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many helicopters there were in the (a) Army Air Corps, (b) Navy, (c) RAF and (d) Armed Forces in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2007. Mr. Bob Ainsworth The information requested is shown as follows: -------------------------------------------------------------- | |1997 (as at 1 April)|2007 (as at 30 June)| -------------------------------------------------------------- |Army Air Corps |295 |289 | -------------------------------------------------------------- |Royal Navy |225 |232 | -------------------------------------------------------------- |Royal Air Force |142 |132 | -------------------------------------------------------------- |Armed Forces Total|662 |653 | -------------------------------------------------------------- The figures for 2007 do not include the six RAF Merlin helicopters recently acquired from Denmark or the eight RAF Chinook Mark 3 helicopters that are being converted to a Battlefield Support role, as announced by the Secretary of State on 30 March 2007.