Maritime Patrol Aircraft

(asked on 1st July 2014) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what account he has taken of (a) recent losses of aircraft and yachts at sea and (b) the deterioration in East-West relations resulting from events in the Ukraine; when assessing the effects on defence capability of the absence of maritime patrol aircraft; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Philip Dunne Portrait
Philip Dunne
This question was answered on 7th July 2014

The Department for Transport is the lead for civil aeronautical and maritime search and rescue. The Ministry of Defence makes defence assets available for search and rescue, which in the past have included Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA).

We continually monitor the international situation and will adjust our capability plans in response as necessary. The capability gap resulting in the removal of MPA, which was years behind schedule and hundreds of millions of Pounds over budget, was recognised in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 but has been partially mitigated using other maritime assets. Prudent management of the defence budget means that we have the ability to consider enhancements to the defence programme should a requirement to do so emerge.

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