Military Aircraft Dr. Fox To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost of the future aircraft carrier programme in each of the next five years. Mr. Quentin Davies I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 20 November 2008, Official Report, column 667W. Following the equipment examination (EE) we decided to delay the carriers by one to two years, recognising that this would add cost. The new cost will be at least £4.6 billion but we are not yet able to provide a final estimate. We do not release annual funding profiles as these are planning assumptions that are inevitably subject to a significant amount of variation, and their availability could also prejudice commercial interests. Dr. Fox To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) required and (b) actual crew number for each helicopter type was in each of the last five years. Bill Rammell Historical figures for helicopter crew numbers are not held in the format requested. The numbers of aircrew personnel for each helicopter type are provided in the following tables. ----------------------------------------------------- |As at 1 July 2009|Required strength|Actual strength| ----------------------------------------------------- |Lynx Mk3/8 |133 |124 | ----------------------------------------------------- |Lynx Mk7/9 |20 |20 | ----------------------------------------------------- |Merlin Mk1 |189 |174 | ----------------------------------------------------- |Sea King Mk4/6 |139 |139 | ----------------------------------------------------- |Sea King Mk5 |68 |65 | ----------------------------------------------------- |Sea King Mk7 |46 |43 | ----------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |As at 6 July 2009 |Required strength|Actual strength| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Apache AH Mk1 |100 |80 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Lynx Mk7/9 |100 |106 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Gazelle Mk1 |34 |34 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Dauphin N3 AH Mk1 |7 |6 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Bell 212 |24 |24 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |SAAVN1 |46 |41 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1 SAAVN figures cannot be split by aircraft type (AH/Squirrel/Lynx/Gazelle).| | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------- |As at 6 July 2009|Required strength|Actual strength| ----------------------------------------------------- |Chinook |262 |222 | ----------------------------------------------------- |Merlin Mk3/3a |159 |130 | ----------------------------------------------------- |Puma |127 |129 | ----------------------------------------------------- |Sea King Mk3/3a |140 |132 | ----------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------- |As at 6 July 2009|Required strength|Actual strength| ----------------------------------------------------- |Squirrel |20 |18 | ----------------------------------------------------- |Griffin |62 |61 | ----------------------------------------------------- Required and actual strengths will both vary with time due to many factors including operational requirements, the introduction of newly trained crew on completion of training courses at set times during the year, the number of trained personnel assigned to non-flying duties (as part of the necessary broader career development), injuries, and service leavers. In addition, the RAF is going through a high level of change with aircrafts drawing down, going through structure change, forming new squadrons or bringing new aircraft into service. Therefore, crew figures are fluctuating on a daily basis. The helicopter fleet is managed to ensure that our operational and other commitments are met, including an 84 per cent. increase in flying hours in Afghanistan between November 2006 and April 2009. Angus Robertson To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) required and (b) actual number of pilots in the armed forces is for the Sea King HAR3/3A helicopters. Bill Rammell The required and actual number of pilots in the armed forces for the Sea King HAR3/3A helicopters is given in the following table: ------------------------ | |Number| ------------------------ |Required pilots|66 | ------------------------ |Actual pilots |64 | ------------------------ A difference between the ‘required’ and ‘actual’ number of pilots is to be expected. The variation is due to a number of factors such as promotion, assignment to other aircraft or ground posts, medical downgrading and leaving the service. Ann Winterton To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment has been made of the merits of deploying single propeller-driven aircraft in theatre for ground attack and surveillance. Bill Rammell Commanders on the ground already have access to a broad range of surveillance and ground attack capabilities and, while we keep our requirements under constant review, there are currently no plans to deploy manned, single propeller-driven aircraft for ground attack or surveillance. We have though deployed the unmanned single propeller aircraft, UK Reaper and Hermes 450, in surveillance roles, with UK Reaper also providing a ground attack capability.