Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has had recent discussions with his counterparts in (a) Europe, (b) the Middle East and (c) Asia on procurement of the (i) Eurofighter Typhoon and (ii) other defence aircraft which were designed and manufactured in the UK.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The UK Government supports industry partners with the export of UK defence equipment, including Typhoon, across a number of global campaigns. Ministers across Government are actively involved in these campaigns.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of recent usage of the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft on the timescales for its replacement by the Tempest model.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Recent usage of the Typhoon will not affect the introduction of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) which is being developed to enter service from 2035, before Typhoon’s earliest possible out of service date of 2040. Routine fleet management of flying hours will ensure the Typhoon fleet is able to remain in frontline service and react to surge requirements until then.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) recent assessment he has made of the airworthiness of the current fleet of Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft operated by the RAF and (b) amount of funding his Department has allocated to maintain and upgrade the existing aircraft.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The RAF's Continuing Airworthiness Management processes provide assurance that all Air Systems are airworthy, available, maintained to defined standards, and with sustained compliance to regulations.
The Typhoon Total Availability eNterprise (TyTAN) is a ten-year £2.1 billion agreement with BAE Systems for support for the Typhoon fleet, established in 2016.
Continual modernisation is a core element of the Typhoon programme. The UK Government has approved investment to complete development of the European Common Radar System (ECRS) Mark 2 and to deliver it into service via a four nation NATO programme called Phased 4 Enhancement (P4E). The P4E programme integrates ECRS Mk2 onto Typhoon together with a package of other upgrades agreed by the UK MOD and our partners.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many serving Armed Forces personnel have committed suicide in the last (a) month, (b) two months, (c) six months, (d) year and (e) two years; and in which service branches those suicides occurred.
Answered by Johnny Mercer
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 February 2020 to Question 1237 to the hon. Member for Newport East (Jessica Morden).
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's 22 October 2018, New study into Iraq and Afghanistan veterans launched, whether that study will record and analyse the roles in which those people served.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The study announced on 22 October 2018 is investigating the cause of death, including of suicide, for all personnel who deployed to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001 and 2014. The study includes personnel who are still in service and those that have transitioned into civilian life.
The study will initially focus on the whole of the Armed Forces including those who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. If a higher mortality rate is found to exist in veterans of the conflicts, it is likely that a more detailed analysis of the data will be conducted including the impact of whether the personnel were in a combat, combat support or combat service support role.