Armoured Fighting Vehicles Mr. Gerald Howarth To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer of 10 November 2008, Official Report, column 775W, on armed forces: weapons, when he expects upgrading and modification of the warrior chain gun for (a) Warrior and (b) Challenger 2 MBT fleets to take place. Mr. Quentin Davies The upgrade and modification programme of the Chain Gun Control Unit has already started. To date approximately 80 per cent. of the Warrior fleet and all but a small number of the Challenger 2 fleet have been upgraded. The process of identifying the outstanding vehicles is ongoing with a target for completion of January 2009. Mr. Gerald Howarth To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer of 10 November 2008, Official Report, column 775W, on armed forces: weapons, whether the instances of undemanded firing of the Warrior chain gun referred to resulted in (a) injuries and (b) deaths. Mr. Quentin Davies Of the four confirmed incidents of chain gun undemanded firing since 2000, sadly two resulted in death or injuries. An incident in 2003 caused serious injury to a British servicemen and an incident in 2004 tragically resulted in the death of an Iraqi civilian and injury to another. Dr. Fox To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armoured vehicles were in-service in the Army in (a) 1997 and (b) 2008, broken down by type. Mr. Quentin Davies The information requested is shown in the following table: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Vehicle |In service 1997 |In service 2008 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Challenger 1 Main Battle Tank |426 |0 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank |0 |345 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Challenger 2 Driver Training Tank |0 |22 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle|81 |81 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Trojan |0 |28 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Titan |0 |28 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Centurion Beach Recovery Vehicle |5 |0 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Beach Recovery Vehicle |0 |4 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Warrior |794 |793 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Saxon (GWR and Patrol) |660 |147 Patrol | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Samson |52 |52 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Spartan |640 |495 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Scimitar |341 |325 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Samaritan |69 |50 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Sultan |272 |205 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |FV430 |1,833 (Mk2 only)|1,487 (Mk2 and Bulldog)| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Mastiff |0 |108 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Jackal |0 |130 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Vector |0 |166 plus 12 ambulances | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Viking |0 |116 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Panther |0 |100 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Saxon GWR was declared obsolete on 31 March 2008 and the vehicles were disposed of. Spartan, Scimitar, Samaritan, Sultan and FV430 numbers have reduced due to revised Total Fleet Requirements. Ann Winterton To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Supacat M-WMIK have been supplied to UK armed forces in (a) Iraq and (b) Afghanistan; how many of them were armoured to become Jackals in each case; and how many M-WMIKs are operating unarmoured in each country. Mr. Hutton Specific operational information on the number of Jackals (M-WMIK) supplied to UK armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan is withheld as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces. All Jackals deployed on operations are armoured. Ann Winterton To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the dimension specifications are for (a) the Cheetah Force Protection vehicle and (b) the Snatch Land Rover. Mr. Quentin Davies I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 1 September 2008, Official Report, column 1448W.