Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote common procurement force specialisation and interoperability with members of the EU.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The UK's capability and industrial cooperation, including joint procurement, is delivered through bilateral and multilateral relationships with our allies and partners. As the Prime Minister laid out in her Munich speech, the UK hopes to continue to collaborate with EU partners on defence research and development to support Europe's military capabilities and defence industrial base.
Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to withdraw the Tornado GR 4 aircraft from service.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer my hon. Friend, the Minster for Defence Procurement (Guto Bebb) gave in the House of Commons, to the hon. Member for Llanelli (Nia Griffith) on 23 April 2018 to Question 136226.
Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which military units are engaged in the clean up operations in Salisbury; and how long they are expected to be so engaged.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Military personnel are providing support as part of the clean up operations in Salisbury. This support is made up of specialists from the Army, RAF and joint organisations, who will be working with experts from the world-leading Dstl. Specifically, the support includes elements from:
- Falcon Squadron, Royal Tank Regiment
- Royal Engineer Troop
- Supporting functions such as a Transport Section from Royal Logistics Corps and Signals detachment
- 20 Force Protection Wing, RAF Regiment
- Instructors from the Defence Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Centre
Meticulous effort is required and it is expected that it will be a number of months before all sites are fully reopened.
Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what ground-based air defence systems there are at RAF military airfields.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
A Short Range Air Defence capability is currently deployed at Mount Pleasant Airfield in the Falkland Islands.
Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to enhance the chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence capability of the UK in the light of the ongoing enquiries into recent events in Salisbury and the possibility of further similar events within the UK.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
We are already evolving Defence capability to respond to the range of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) threats. For example, as the Secretary of State for Defence recently announced, we are building on our world class expertise at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Porton Down by investing £48 million in a new Chemical Weapons Defence Centre to maintain our cutting edge in chemical analysis and defence. The Ministry of Defence will re-evaluate its overall CBRN capability as part of its Modernising Defence Programme.
Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the programme for returning the UK's Type 45 destroyers to full capability; and when they anticipate this will be achieved.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Improvements to the resilience of the Type 45 Destroyers' power and propulsion system will be delivered through the Power Improvement Project, which involves fitting additional diesel generators to provide the ships with increased electrical generation capacity. The programme is the subject of an ongoing competitive procurement and it would not be appropriate to release details of the programme schedule until the competitive process has completed and the contract has been agreed. The Type 45 Destroyers continue to be deployed on operations and contribute to the defence of the UK and our international partners.
Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assistance they will provide to manufacturers for the export of Type 31e frigates.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Exports and prosperity are at the heart of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, published in September 2017, and are central to the procurement strategy for the Type 31e Frigate. The Department for International Trade's Defence and Security Organisation will lead Government support to Type 31e export campaigns. We will work closely with them and other Departments to provide the necessary Government support to Type 31e export campaigns. The support provided will vary depending on the nature of each individual campaign.
Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the possibility of deploying an enhanced UK military presence in Kuwait.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
There are on going discussions between the UK and Kuwaiti Governments, without commitment, to consider options to enhance the UK military presence in Kuwait. Currently the UK has a Defence Section in the Embassy in Kuwait and has, for many years, advised and developed Kuwait's Armed Forces through a British Military Mission permanently based in Kuwait. In addition, we have been supporting the counter-Daesh coalition with troops based in Kuwait. The UK military partnership with Kuwait also includes joint exercising with Kuwait's military institutions and Armed Forces.
Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to counter Russian information operations (1) on the battlefield, and (2) in the air.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
As the Prime Minister made clear in her speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet last year, the UK will do what is necessary to protect ourselves, and work with our allies to do likewise. The UK has deployed a battlegroup to Estonia as a framework nation for NATO's enhanced forward presence, and has made regular deployments of Typhoon fighter aircraft conducting NATO air policing. This contribution to Alliance missions demonstrates our commitment to the principle of collective defence and is a measured response to the security challenge posed by Russia.
We know that the Kremlin persistently uses disinformation as a tool to destabilise perceived enemies. This is not new and was evident in Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, its rhetoric around Syrian regime backed chemical weapons attacks on innocent civilians, and remains so with Russia's destabilisation of east Ukraine and beyond. The best defence against disinformation is a free, wide and varied media landscape. To this end, the UK Government is spending approximately £100 million over five years including in Eastern Europe, for the purpose of countering Russian disinformation.
Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to trial hot ground refuelling for F35 Lightning aircraft.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
UK F-35 aircraft are already conducting hot ground refuelling.