Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the number of British troops deployed as part of the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence.
Answered by James Heappey
In order to strengthen NATO's deterrence and defence posture, increase interoperability with our Allies, and reinforce our bilateral relationships, the UK has played a leading role in NATO enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) since its inception, acting as framework nation in Estonia, and contributing to the US-led deployment in Poland. As part of the UK's multi-domain and coordinated response to Russia's unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine, the Prime Minister announced last month that, alongside other deployments in support of Allies, the UK would temporarily double its presence in Estonia to brigade strength. The Ministry of Defence keeps the UK's defence posture under constant review.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress he has made the AJAX armoured fighting vehicle programme.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Department continues to work with General Dynamics to identify solutions to the noise and vibration problems on Ajax vehicles.
Trials and testing of modifications proposed by General Dynamics to resolve these issues are ongoing. The data from these trials will then need to be analysed to determine whether the proposed modifications are effective.
I will update the House on these results in due course.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the number of main battle tanks in the Army.
Answered by James Heappey
As announced by Secretary of State for Defence in 2021, Future Soldier is about facing up to future threats by creating an Army that is more integrated, active and lethal. The operational analysis from Northern Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh that informed the Integrated Review and Future Soldier has been broadly matched by the performance of armour in Ukraine. Nonetheless, we continue to watch the threat and will make policy accordingly.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of including in armed forces urban training environments (a) high rise buildings, (b) multi-story car parks and (c) other features found in modern cities to represent the modern operating environment.
Answered by James Heappey
The Army has various interventions in place to assist them in adapting to fight in an urban environment. For several years now, the Army has been conducting the Army Warfighting Experiment (AWE) on an annual basis, which is an established series of exercises and wargames, focussing specifically on operating in the urban environment.
In April 2022, the Army is introducing the Experimentation and Trials Group (ETG) which will comprise of a headquarters, a next generation combat team and five trials and development units. Informed by a comprehensive training needs analysis, the ETG will include an urban centre of excellence with a small team dedicated to urban warfare trials and experiments.
The Army also utilises a Unit Based Virtual Trainer (UBVT) which is able to recreate complex urban environments, including the infrastructure mentioned within your question. The software is built around commercial gaming software and replicates, in detail, all of the Army's platforms and weapons.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to help improve the ability of the Army to fight effectively in urban environments.
Answered by James Heappey
The Army has various interventions in place to assist them in adapting to fight in an urban environment. For several years now, the Army has been conducting the Army Warfighting Experiment (AWE) on an annual basis, which is an established series of exercises and wargames, focussing specifically on operating in the urban environment.
In April 2022, the Army is introducing the Experimentation and Trials Group (ETG) which will comprise of a headquarters, a next generation combat team and five trials and development units. Informed by a comprehensive training needs analysis, the ETG will include an urban centre of excellence with a small team dedicated to urban warfare trials and experiments.
The Army also utilises a Unit Based Virtual Trainer (UBVT) which is able to recreate complex urban environments, including the infrastructure mentioned within your question. The software is built around commercial gaming software and replicates, in detail, all of the Army's platforms and weapons.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he has taken to increase the number of deployable divisions in the Army.
Answered by James Heappey
The British Army has two deployable divisions: 1st (UK) Division and 3rd (UK) Division. Whilst there are no plans to increase the number of deployable divisions in the British Army, under the Future Soldier programme the Army will modernise the divisions to ensure they are fit for purpose to counter the threats of today and the future.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of whether changes to the nutritional content of ration packs provided to the armed forces are required.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Defence recognises that good nutrition is fundamental to the health, wellbeing, and operational effectiveness of Service Personnel and are continually working to improve the nutritional content in ration packs.