Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the nature of the issue is with the Rolls-Royce engine on the Hawk jet; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of that issue on training.

A fault has been identified with the Rolls-Royce/Safran Adour 951 engine, which powers the Hawk TMk2. The fault affects the components contained in the Safran manufactured Module 1 of the engine, also known as the Low-Pressure Compressor. As a precaution, a number of engines have been temporarily removed from service whilst the Ministry of Defence supports a Rolls-Royce/Safran investigation into the root cause and rectification. While this has reduced current aircraft availability, Fast Jet training is continuing at RAF Valley.

Initial assessments suggest the reduction in aircraft availability will have an impact on UK Fast Jet (FJ) training output over the next three years, but work is ongoing to minimise that impact.