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. Mr. Bob Ainsworth 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. Dr. Fox 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. Mr. Bob Ainsworth 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).| | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Laurence Robertson 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. Derek Twigg 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.