Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the (a) Philippines Army’s Sabrah Light Tank and b) the Spanish Army’s VCZAP Castor’s ASCOD2 chassis.

The Army routinely assesses which vehicles are most appropriate to meet specific capability requirements.

The base platform of the Philippines Army’s Sabrah Light Tank is the ASCOD 2 chassis. At present, the British Army has no requirement for a light tank capability. However, it continues to monitor employment of such systems, alongside broader global developments in armoured fighting vehicles.

The Spanish Army’s VCZAP Castor is the combat engineering variant of the ASCOD 2 chassis. Under the Armoured Cavalry programme, the Army is introducing the ARGUS variant of the Ajax family, which will deliver an advanced engineer reconnaissance function. Together with the existing Trojan and Terrier platforms, ARGUS will provide the Army with a comprehensive suite of combat engineering capabilities.