Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what serving British military personnel are posted in China.
Answered by James Heappey
The Defence Section in British Embassy Beijing currently consists of four serving British military personal led by the Defence Attaché, Air Cdre Mike Blackburn, who is supported by a Deputy Defence Attaché and two Non-Commissioned Officer support staff. There are no other serving British military personnel deployed to China.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many RAF personnel are currently awaiting flying training.
Answered by James Heappey
The tables below show the number of RAF personnel currently awaiting flying training at each stage as of September 2022.
On hold pre-flying training (these personnel are awaiting their first flying training course after completing their Phase 1 training):
Fast Jet / Multi Engine / Air Mobility & ISTAR / Rotary Wing | 20 |
RPAS | 10 |
On hold between Military Flying Training System (MFTS) courses (these personnel are held at various stages of the MFTS):
Fast Jet / Multi Engine / Air Mobility & ISTAR / Rotary Wing | 260 |
RPAS | 20 |
On hold post-MFTS and pre-Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) (these personnel have completed their MFTS training):
Fast Jet | 10 |
Multi Engine / Air Mobility & ISTAR | 20 |
Rotary Wing | 20 |
RPAS | 10 |
In accordance with the Data Protection Act and our obligations in relation to the protection of confidentiality when handling personal data, data have been rounded to the nearest 10. Due to the rounding methods used, totals may not always equal the sum of the parts. When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.
There have always been planned holds in the flying training pipeline and the number of pilots holding before starting flying training has decreased since 2019. However, focused work to reduce the pre-UKMFTS hold, coupled with a reduction in frontline places available to ab-initio aircrew due to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent changes to the frontline requirement following the Integrated Review, has led to a greater number of pilots holding in the UKMFTS pipeline. The trainees currently on hold within the UKMFTS pipeline enable the RAF to ensure that all courses are fully utilised throughout the flying training pipeline. Aircrew on hold are fulfilling required and essential roles within the Armed Forces with an aim to expand their skills in other areas of MOD business.
The RAF remains able to meet its frontline operational commitments and has sufficient qualified aircrew to do so.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how long it takes on average to train (a) fast jet, (b) heavy lift and (c) rotary pilots.
Answered by James Heappey
The average time for trainee pilots completing flying training in the current Financial Year, to the point of joining an Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) is 4.8 years for Fast Jet; 5.4 years for Multi Engine (heavy lift) and; 6.9 years for Rotary Wing.
The time taken to complete OCU training can vary across the aircraft types and will result in newly qualified pilots leaving OCUs as Limited Combat Ready or Combat Ready.
There have always been planned holds built into the flying training pipeline to ensure all courses are fully utilised. Aircrew on hold fulfil other essential roles across Ministry of Defence (MOD), developing their skills in other areas of MOD business.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to improve the capacity of RAF fighter pilot training.
Answered by James Heappey
The RAF constantly reviews its training pipeline and introduces measures as and when required in order to strike the best balance between pipeline supply and the frontline demand for new pilots. Such measures currently include a small number of pilots being trained on the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training programme in the USA as part of a 5-year commitment completing in FY 2024/25, with additional training capacity being requested through this programme. Other measures to increase capacity include reducing the length of Operational Conversion Unit syllabuses and making greater use of synthetic training. We are also working with allies and partners to examine whether UK pilots could be trained overseas, or where we might pool our resources to mutual benefit.
The RAF remains able to meet its frontline operational commitments and has sufficient trained aircrew to do so.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June to Question 11845 on Air Force: Recruitment, how many jet pilots were trained in each year since 2015.
Answered by James Heappey
In answering this question I have determined jet pilots to mean fast jet pilots. The current number of fast jet pilots that have graduated from their Conversion to Type training in each complete calendar year since 2015 is as follows:
Platform | Fast Jet Pilots Trained by Calendar Year | ||||||
Financial Year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Typhoon | 30 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 20 |
Lightning | ~ | ~ | 10 | 10 | 10 | ~ | 10 |
Total | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 40 | 20 |
In accordance with the Data Protection Act and our obligations in relation to the protection of confidentiality when handling personal data, data have been rounded to the nearest 10, where "-" denotes zero and "~" denotes a number less than or equal to 5. Due to the rounding methods used, totals may not always equal the sum of the parts. When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.
The RAF has sufficient qualified aircrew to meet its frontline operational commitments.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of expanding the size of the Army Reserve.
Answered by James Heappey
As part of Future Soldier, the Army Reserve will be better integrated with the Regular Army with a whole force of over 100,000, comprising of 73,000 Regular Service personnel and 30,100 Army Reserve personnel. This means the Army Reserve now has a dedicated warfighting role and has primacy for UK resilience tasks.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason British service members are not allowed to wear NATO issued medals on their uniforms.
Answered by James Heappey
NATO medals have been approved for wear in the past, including for operations in the Balkans. Details of those medals that have been approved for wear are included in Chapter 8, Annex A of Joint Service Publication (JSP) 761 (Honours and Awards in the Armed Forces): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/honours-and-awards-in-the-armed-forces-jsp-761
However, some NATO medals have not been approved for wear, in particular where a UK medal is also awarded for the same service. In such circumstances, NATO medals are not approved for wear as allowing this would contravene the principle of no 'double-medalling' for the same service. An example of this was the NATO International Security Assistance Force medal in Afghanistan, which was not approved as UK Service personnel were already awarded the Operational Service Medal (Afghanistan).
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if his Department will reassess the potential merits of turning Operation Cabrit into a medal awarding operational deployment.
Answered by James Heappey
Operation CABRIT, like all operations, is kept under continuous review for medallic recognition and, if the situation was assessed to have changed, the case for medallic recognition could be made by the operational commander for review by the Permanent Joint Headquarters-led Operations Recognition Board. They would in turn make any recommendations through the Chiefs of Staff to Defence Ministers.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
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 introducing a list of approved non-issued kit suitable for use by armed service personnel while in the field or on operations.
Answered by Alec Shelbrooke
The Department has not made any assessment of the potential merits of introducing a list of approved non-issued kit suitable for use by Armed Forces personnel while in the field or on operations.
The Ministry of Defence keeps under review all issued kit to ensure it is fit for purpose and provides all of the necessary requirements for personnel while deployed in the field or on operations.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
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 procuring Leopard 2s to (a) further complement the British Army's fleet of main battle tanks and (b) increase inter-operability with NATO allies.
Answered by Alec Shelbrooke
The Army’s Challenger 3 Main Battle Tank (MBT)will become one of the most mobile, most protected, and most lethal in Europe, making up the core of both of the Army’s future Armoured Brigade Combat Teams. These will be more capable against peer adversaries and integrated with our NATO Allies and partners.
No requirement has been identified for additional MBT capability.