Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there has been any change to the 2028 Out of Service Date (OSD) of RFA Fort Victoria.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Royal Navy constantly explore options to ensure optimal availability of the fleet. However, in order to preserve the Operational Security of the Fleet, individual out of service dates are no longer released.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by The Earl of Minto on 11 March (HL Deb col 1805), how will the 138 F35B Lightning aircraft be allocated to squadrons.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Lightning Force is configured to be flexible and interchangeable as individual aircraft cycle between the Forward Fleet and periods of maintenance. Squadrons will gain aircraft from the available Forward Fleet in line with their readiness cycle, expeditionary deployment requirements, and associated training and exercises. The size of Air Groups for every Carrier deployment are tailored based on the overall balance of Defence requirements at that time.
Specific airframes are not allocated to specific Squadrons on a permanent basis. As is normal across all aircraft fleets, as part of the readiness cycle and routine fleet management across the Front-Line Squadrons and Operational Conversion Unit, the exact number of airframes operated by individual units varies day-to-day. A Squadron held at Very High Readiness will require a full complement of airframes, while a Squadron on lower readiness or undertaking post Operational deployment leave will require fewer airframes for day-to-day pilot currency and competency requirements.
Our plan remains to procure 138 aircraft through the life of the programme. This procurement is phased; our first acquisition phase of 48 aircraft is underway at present, with the second phase consisting of a further 27 aircraft now progressing through the approvals process, which will form the basis of our third Front-line Lightning Squadron with deliveries expected to continue into 2033. The Ministry of Defence will seek approval for further acquisition phases at the appropriate time.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many times have HMS Spey and HMS Tamar visited the war graves of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse in the past 12 months.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We continue to work closely with the relevant authorities in the region to afford these sites suitable protection. The wrecks of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are designated as protected places under the UK's Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.
HMS Spey recently visited the wreck sites of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse to conduct patrol/presence operations. The Ship also held a memorial service for those who lost their lives in the sinking of both ships as part of the UK's remembrance events in November 2023.
Based on records available from 1 December 2022 - 1 December 2023, this has been the only visit by HMS Spey or HMS Tamar to the wreck sites of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Autumn Statement which notes that £4.6 billion was given to Ukraine in military aid over 2022–23 and 2023–24, how much will be given in fiscal year 2024–5.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the noble Lord to the reply given by my right hon. Friend, the Minister for Armed Forces (James Heappey), in the House of Commons on 28 November 2023 to the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Deane (Mr John Healey) in response to his Urgent Question on the war in Ukraine.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether their policy has changed as regards plans for defence spending, given that the Spring Budget stated an aspiration to invest 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product in defence but this is not mentioned in the Autumn Statement.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the noble Lord to the reply given by my hon. Friend, Minister of State for Defence (James Cartlidge), in the House of Commons on 27 November 2023 to the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Deane (Mr John Healey) in response to Question number 3090.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to require the design, manufacture and testing of future military satellite communications used by the Armed Forces to be done in the UK.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Future military satellite communications are being secured though a programme called SKYNET 6. The Ministry of Defence has already contracted UK companies to develop the first new satellite (Airbus Defence & Space Ltd) and to provide ground and flight control services for the entire constellation (a consortium led by Babcock).
Subsequent SKYNET satellites are being acquired through two separate competitive procurements. The first of these is for a more widely available Narrowband Satellite System, and thus it is being procured via an open competition. The second is for up to three highly technological wideband satellites. There is a clear requirement in the competition invite that the key design, manufacture and testing activities for the wideband satellites are undertaken in the UK, in accordance with the aims of the Defence and Security Industrial Strategy (publishing.service.gov.uk).
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for the UK to maintain full sovereign control of the Skynet satellite constellation into the future.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
SKYNET 6 is the UK MOD’s strategic highly assured and protected satellite communications (SATCOM) capability. The criticality of maintaining Freedom of Action and Operational Independence, and therefore ‘sovereign control’ of this national capability, has been a firm requirement and has been verified every year since programme inception. To meet all known threats and to provide assured positive Command and Control of UK Armed Forces and support to other Government departments necessitates an appropriate level of UK ‘ownership’, as defined in the Defence Space Strategy and the MOD’s Assured Capability framework. This is delivered by balancing UK-led activities with the use of allied networks and the global commercial market, where appropriate.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have considered operating the RFA’s Wave Ruler and Knight with the carrier strike group providing partial solid support in the absence of Fort Victoria and until the first Fleet Solid Support Ship comes into service.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the member of Parliament for Portsmouth North regarding the plan to build three ships in that constituency to assist in disaster relief and other operations.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
There are no plans for the Ministry of Defence to build any disaster relief vessels in the constituency of Portsmouth North and there have been no Ministerial discussions on the matter.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what change to the global geostrategic situation outlined in the Integrated Review Refresh 2023: Responding to a more contested and volatile world, published on 13 March, has led to the decision to have no operational Landing Platform Dock ships in the Royal Navy.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Royal Navy will continue to operate a credible Landing Platform Dock (LPD) capability, through its Bay class Landing Ship Dock (Auxiliary) (LSD(A)), until the operational return of the Albion class Landing Platform Dock (LPD) ships, with HMS Bulwark.
The LPD and LSD(A) platforms are interchangeable in function by degrees of scale, each complements the other and both together constitute our core amphibious delivery capability when combined for maximal amphibious effect. To enable the sustained forward presence of the Littoral Response Group’s (LRG) in the coming years, both classes of ship will be pulsed into the deployment of the LRGs around their respective refit cycles.