Asked by: Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party - Moray)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2015 to Question 227404, if he will place in the Library documents (a) DCDS(MilCap)/14/01/10, dated 28 January 2014 and (b) MAA/DG/COMMS/SENIOR MOD ZD743/ZD812 dated 13 December 2013.
Answered by Philip Dunne
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party - Moray)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2015 to Question 227978, and with reference to MAA RA1210, how the validity of the ALARP argument, at the time of the Tornado collision over the Moray Firth, will be legally decided.
Answered by Philip Dunne
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 March 2015 to Question 227978.
http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=AllQuestions&house=commons%2clords&uin=227978
Asked by: Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party - Moray)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place in the Library a copy of the document D/VCDS&2ndPUS/8/4 PR11 Tornado CWS Further Work identified in paragraph 1.4.6.606 of the Director General of the Military Aviation Report into the Tornado collision.
Answered by Philip Dunne
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party - Moray)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Squirrel HT1/HT2, (b) T67M-2 Firefly, (c) Grob 115 Tutor, (d) Viking, (e) Vigilant, (f) AW139, (g) A109 Power, (h) Sea King HAS6, (i) Sea King HU5, (j) Merlin HM1, (k) Merlin MH2, (l) Sea King ASaC7, (m) Sea King HC4, (n) Sea King HC6CR, (o) Lynx HAS3, (p) Lynx HMA8, (q) Wildcat HMA2, (r) Hawk, (s) Grob 115 Heron, (t) Dauphin, (u) King Air, (v) Islander AL1, (w) Defender 4S AL2, (x) Defender T3, (y) Lynx AH7 and (z) Lynx AH9A are in (i) the forward fleet, (ii) sustainment and (iii) storage.
Answered by Julian Brazier
The information requested is in the attached table.
The Forward Fleet comprises aircraft which are serviceable and those which are short-term unserviceable. Short-term unserviceable aircraft are undergoing minor works, forward maintenance or any other unforeseen rectification or technical inspection work that can arise on a day-to-day basis.
The Sustainment Fleet numbers represent those aircraft in our Depth Fleet, which comprises aircraft which are undergoing planned depth maintenance or upgrade programmes.
The numbers recorded as being in “Storage” are airworthy aircraft that are currently in temporary storage. These figures exclude those which are redundant, declared as surplus or awaiting disposal.
The following aircraft types are contractor owned and do not feature in the table. The contracts for these fleets are based on delivery of a specific number of flying hours and aircraft availability. The actual numbers of airframes and specific aircraft types used in the fulfilment of the contract are a matter for the contractor to decide, based on their commercial and technical judgement.
· Squirrel HT1/HT2
· S-61N
· A109 Power and A109E Power
· AW189 (selected by the future Falkland Islands Search & Rescue provider. It will be civil registered and operated by Industry).
· Bell 212
· Dauphin N2
· Griffin HT1
· Griffin HC2
· Grob 115 Tutor
· Grob 115 Heron is a sub-type of Grob Tutor.
The AW139 and some of the A109 aircraft are operated on the military register in support of some commercial activities.
Asked by: Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party - Moray)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Apache AH1, (b) Gazelle AH1, (c) AS365N3 Dauphin, (d) Bell 212, (e) Lynx Wildcat, (f) Squirrel HT1/HT2 and (g) Watchkeeper 450 are in (i) the forward fleet, (ii) sustainment and (iii) storage.
Answered by Julian Brazier
The information requested is in the attached table.
The Forward Fleet comprises aircraft which are serviceable and those which are short-term unserviceable. Short-term unserviceable aircraft are undergoing minor works, forward maintenance or any other unforeseen rectification or technical inspection work that can arise on a day-to-day basis.
The Sustainment Fleet numbers represent those aircraft in our Depth Fleet, which comprises aircraft which are undergoing planned depth maintenance or upgrade programmes.
The numbers recorded as being in “Storage” are airworthy aircraft that are currently in temporary storage. These figures exclude those which are redundant, declared as surplus or awaiting disposal.
The following aircraft types are contractor owned and do not feature in the table. The contracts for these fleets are based on delivery of a specific number of flying hours and aircraft availability. The actual numbers of airframes and specific aircraft types used in the fulfilment of the contract are a matter for the contractor to decide, based on their commercial and technical judgement.
· Squirrel HT1/HT2
· S-61N
· A109 Power and A109E Power
· AW189 (selected by the future Falkland Islands Search & Rescue provider. It will be civil registered and operated by Industry).
· Bell 212
· Dauphin N2
· Griffin HT1
· Griffin HC2
· Grob 115 Tutor
· Grob 115 Heron is a sub-type of Grob Tutor.
The AW139 and some of the A109 aircraft are operated on the military register in support of some commercial activities.
Asked by: Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party - Moray)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Typhoon, (b) Tornado GR4/4A, (c) F-35B, (d) Sentry AEW1, (e) Sentinel R1 ASTOR, (f) Shadow R.1, (g) Islander CC2/CC2A, (h) MQ-9 Predator B, (i) RC-135 Rivet Joint, (j) A330 FSTA, (k) Hercules, (l) C-17 Globemaster, (m) A400M, (n) HS125 CC3, (o) BAe 146 CC2, (p) Chinook HC4, (q) Chinook HC5, (r) Chinook HC6, (s) Merlin HC3, (t) Merlin HC3A ex RDAF, (u) Puma HC2/SA330 Puma, (v) Sea King HAR3/A, (w) A109 Power, (x) Griffin HC2, (y) S-61N, (z) AW189, (aa) Hawk T1/T1A, (bb) Hawk T2, (cc) Tucano T1, (dd) King Air, (ee) Griffin HT1 are in (i) the forward fleet, (ii) sustainment and (iii) storage.
Answered by Julian Brazier
The information requested is in the attached table.
The Forward Fleet comprises aircraft which are serviceable and those which are short-term unserviceable. Short-term unserviceable aircraft are undergoing minor works, forward maintenance or any other unforeseen rectification or technical inspection work that can arise on a day-to-day basis.
The Sustainment Fleet numbers represent those aircraft in our Depth Fleet, which comprises aircraft which are undergoing planned depth maintenance or upgrade programmes.
The numbers recorded as being in “Storage” are airworthy aircraft that are currently in temporary storage. These figures exclude those which are redundant, declared as surplus or awaiting disposal.
The following aircraft types are contractor owned and do not feature in the table. The contracts for these fleets are based on delivery of a specific number of flying hours and aircraft availability. The actual numbers of airframes and specific aircraft types used in the fulfilment of the contract are a matter for the contractor to decide, based on their commercial and technical judgement.
· Squirrel HT1/HT2
· S-61N
· A109 Power and A109E Power
· AW189 (selected by the future Falkland Islands Search & Rescue provider. It will be civil registered and operated by Industry).
· Bell 212
· Dauphin N2
· Griffin HT1
· Griffin HC2
· Grob 115 Tutor
· Grob 115 Heron is a sub-type of Grob Tutor.
The AW139 and some of the A109 aircraft are operated on the military register in support of some commercial activities.
Asked by: Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party - Moray)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the protected nuclear safety baseline staff complement numbers are for each of the nuclear authorities within his Department; and how many personnel were in post authorisees as of 31 December 2014.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The following table summarises the number of nuclear organisational baseline posts for Authorisees within the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the number of personnel (military, civilian or contractor) in these MOD posts as of 31 December 2014.
MOD Authorisee | Posts | Personnel in post |
Chief Strategic Systems Executive | <10 | <10 |
Strategic Weapons Project Team | 120 | 120 |
Her Majesty’s Naval Base Devonport | 120 | 110 |
Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde | 230 | 220 |
Nuclear Propulsion Project Team | 100 | 90 |
Naval Reactor Test Establishment Vulcan | <10 | <10 |
Figures have been rounded to 10; numbers ending in 5 are rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.
A nuclear organisational baseline is a requirement of the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator. Some, but not all, baseline posts require Nuclear Suitably Qualified and Experienced Personnel (NSQEP), and not all NSQEP are employed in baseline posts.
None of the vacancies are in posts categorised as safety critical. The vacancies have not impaired the MOD’s ability to deliver the Defence Nuclear Programme safely.
Asked by: Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party - Moray)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps have been taken to eliminate uncommanded wing drop when manoeuvring the F-35B.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Joint Strike Fighter programme has completed an extensive period of dedicated development flight test to both assess the impact of uncommanded wing drop (called transonic roll off) and mitigate its impact. The results of flight test have been to use a combination of control surface inputs from the leading edge flaps, trailing edge flaps and horizontal tails which have been applied differentially using software driven flight controls when the aircraft is operating at elevated angles of attack in the transonic flight condition.
It is extremely difficult to totally remove transonic roll from the transonic area of the flight regime, but these changes in the software control laws have lessened its severity and it has been assessed that they are now acceptable by the experienced flight crews that have flown with them. The programme leadership, which includes the UK Ministry of Defence, has concluded that they will allow the aircraft and pilots to execute the mission. The programme will continue to monitor and refine the flight control laws throughout the life of the aircraft as the aircraft's capability develops and if the target set and mission changes.
Asked by: Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party - Moray)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effects of buffeting and transonic roll-off on the ability of (a) the helmet-mounted display systems to display symbology and (b) gyroscopes in the inertial platforms to operate correctly on the Joint Strike Fighter F-35B.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Joint Strike Fighter programme has completed an extensive period of dedicated flight test to assess the impact of buffeting and transonic roll-off on both the helmet mounted display and gyroscopes in the inertial platforms. The conclusion of these flight tests, which have used changes in the flight control laws to mitigate both conditions throughout the flight envelope, is that the helmet mounted display and gyroscopic equipment meet the required performance specification and are fit for purpose to allow pilots to execute the mission. It is only in one area of the flight regime where buffet makes screen symbology difficult to read, and this is at the extremes of the envelope and extremely short lived as the aircraft manoeuvres, it is considered that they can be overcome by pilot training. These flight trials have included UK test pilots who have agreed with the conclusions of the US experts from government and industry.
Asked by: Angus Robertson (Scottish National Party - Moray)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many production Joint Strike Fighter F-35B aircraft have been received by the UK armed forces; and how many of those aircraft have achieved supersonic speeds.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The UK has received three F-35B aircraft in the low rate initial production phase. None of the production aircraft have achieved supersonic speeds to date. Although the F-35 design has been tested up to supersonic flight there is currently a flight restriction that prevents this as the aircraft are awaiting modification. There is currently no requirement for the aircraft to achieve supersonic flight in support of the UK's current phase of introduction to service which is focused initial operational test and training activity.