Nick Smith
Main Page: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney)Department Debates - View all Nick Smith's debates with the Cabinet Office
(13 years, 8 months ago)
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Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)
Regarding the no-fly zone, the National Audit Office says we have just eight Typhoon pilots trained for ground attack. The lives of two Nimrods planned for early retirement have been extended. Will the Prime Minister look again at the decision to retire our Harrier fleet?
The Prime Minister
The aeroplane that is not being used at all in Afghanistan is the highly capable Typhoon, in which this country has invested an enormous amount of money and which is now proving to be an extremely good, well-performing aircraft. In our defence review we are thinking exactly about situations such as these, where we need highly flexible, well-trained armed forces, with investment in special forces, helicopters and transport planes such as the A400M. That is exactly the situation that we are envisaging.