Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2015 to Question 8118, what the Atlantic coverage is of the Sentry airbourne warning MK1 aircraft.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The E-3D Sentry has a range of some 5,000 nautical miles with a mission endurance of some 11 hours. Both can be extended by air-to-air refuelling.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2015 to Question 8120, what the sensor capability is of the C-130 Hercules; and what the full extent is of its search and rescue resources.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Hercules C-130 aircraft is fitted with radar which can be used to locate vessels in the water. Night vision goggles allow aircrew to conduct visual searches at night. The aircraft is able to provide situational awareness of shipping in the area by interrogating maritime transponder transmissions.
The Hercules C-130 is also able to drop air sea rescue apparatus containing life-rafts and survival equipment.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2015 to Question 8120, what the range is of the RAF Sea King helicopter resource in its coverage of Atlantic waters.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The operational range of RAF Sea King helicopters is some 210-240 nautical miles.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what airborne early warning aircraft capability he plans will be available to the new aircraft carriers joining the UK fleet.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Queen Elizabeth Class carriers will have an airborne early warning capability provided by the CROWSNEST radar system fitted to the Merlin Mk2 helicopter. Additionally, the carriers will be capable of operating with other UK, NATO and Allied aircraft which can also provide airborne early warning capabilities.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what search and rescue capability exists within the RAF covering missing aircraft in the North Atlantic.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The United Kingdom military aircraft search and rescue (SAR) capability currently consists of Royal Navy and Royal Air Force Sea King helicopters, which can assist in the search for missing aircraft in the North Sea.
In addition, the RAF Sentry airborne early warning aircraft can carry out maritime surveillance and also act as the airborne command and control node for any coordinated SAR operation.
The RAF Air Transport fleet can also be called upon; in particular the national standby C-130 (Hercules), which can be fitted with air sea rescue equipment and can be used to provide SAR cover.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the UK's airborne early warning aircraft capability is for air and maritime threat to the UK.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Royal Air Force has six Sentry airborne early warning Mk1 aircraft, which are declared to the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force and fulfil a range of roles including air and sea surveillance and airborne command and control. | |||||||
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many serving members of the Fleet Air Arm have given notice of their intention to leave before serving the time that they signed up for in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The number of serving members of the Fleet Air Arm who have given notice of their intention to leave before serving the time that they signed up for in each of the last five years is as follows:
Years | Total No*. |
July 2010 - June 2011 | 200 |
July 2011 - June 2012 | 200 |
July 2012 - June 2013 | 270 |
July 2013 - June 2014 | 340 |
July 2014 - June 2015 | 320 |
*The above figures have been rounded in accordance with Defence Statistics Policy; as a result, the totals may not equal the sum of their component parts.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the level of morale amongst military personnel on the front line.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Although the Ministry of Defence does not measure the level of morale amongst Armed Forces personnel specifically on the front line, we do conduct an annual continuous attitude survey which measures morale and I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 3 June 2015 to Question 498 to the hon. Member for North Durham (Kevan Jones).
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average length of tour for army personnel serving overseas in combat zones has been in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The majority of Army personnel deployed to Afghanistan had an average tour length of approximately 180 days, in line with the standard operational tour length.
The Army's policy is that six months is the optimal tour length for an intense operational deployment within a combat zone. Over the past three years, as service in the Afghanistan combat zone was drawn to a close, the standard tour length remained six months. Some personnel were required to serve up to 12 months and some specialist personnel had tours of four months or less.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average availability of indulgence flights in military aircraft for army personnel serving overseas returning to the UK on leave has been in the last three years.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.