Military Aircraft: Safety

(asked on 8th February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February 2021 to Question 147752, which Department or contractor will pay for the cost of retrofitting safety equipment to the RAF’s fleet of Texan trainer aircraft to allow training over water.


Answered by
Jeremy Quin Portrait
Jeremy Quin
This question was answered on 11th February 2021

The over-water safety equipment for the RAF Texan fleet comprises three main elements, a modified harness, the Life Preserver, and the life raft.

The cost of the development, certification and embodiment of the harness modification is £1.858m (ex VAT), which is being funded by the Ministry of Defence.

At present there is no activity to replace the current Life Preserver. Ascent, the Training System Partner, is integrating a water activated light on the Life Preserver to enable night flying over water from RAF Valley.

Consideration is underway within the Department regarding the funding for a replacement Life Raft, and I am withholding the cost information on the basis that it would prejudice value for money.

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