Armed Forces: Equipment

Mr. Gerald Howarth
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) required and (b) actual number is of (i) items of night vision equipment, (ii) pieces of body armour and (iii) small arms for pre-deployment training.

Mr. Quentin Davies
The current required and actual number of night vision equipment, body armour and small arms specifically held for pre-deployment training are provided in the following table.

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|                                                  |Requirement|Holdings|
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|Night vision systems                              |           |        |
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|Helmet Mounted Night Vision System                |7,168      |4,477   |
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|Light Weight Thermal Image sights (VIPIR 2 and 2+)|971        |762     |
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|                                                  |           |        |
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|Body armour                                       |           |        |
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|Osprey                                            |2,901      |4,697   |
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|Osprey Assault                                    |6,146      |0       |
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|                                                  |           |        |
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|Small arms                                        |           |        |
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|Light Machine Gun                                 |922        |922     |
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|Shotgun                                           |198        |70      |
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|Sig Pistol                                        |3,007      |1,162   |
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Where there is a shortfall against the pre-deployment training requirement, this reflects the newness of equipment, or the growth in forces deployed. We are making further progress in closing the gap and should meet the full requirement for each equipment type identified (except the Sig Pistol) by July 2010, and in some cases earlier than July. All pistols (some 25,000) are due to be replaced as part of the Soldier System Lethality programme.

Equipment availability for pre-deployment training is carefully managed and prioritised to ensure that operators are safe, qualified and competent on the equipment prior to deployment.

In addition to the equipment allocated specifically for pre-deployment training, further equipment is held by units themselves; these items are not included in the figures as they are not specifically held for pre-deployment training.