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Ms Rachel Squire (Dunfermline, West): Given the points that my right hon. Friend has just made, will he join me in welcoming the establishment of a defence diplomacy scholarship scheme at Shrivenham, which seeks directly to influence the conduct of civilian and military personnel worldwide in peacekeeping and other operations?
Mr. Hoon: I thank my hon. Friend for that point. That is precisely the kind of example of defence diplomacy that I was describing. From their time in office, Opposition Members will know that young men or women who come to the United Kingdom on such scholarships tend to give their country of origin the benefit of experience that they have gained here, and do so throughout their service
career and sometimes beyond, into government. There are several examples of people who have taken advantage of such scholarships and ended up in prominent positions in their own countries. Those scholarships therefore have long-term benefits. I accept that it is sometimes difficult to define the tangible benefits of such schemes but, in the long term, they bring enormous advantages to the United Kingdom.The Government are committed to the modernisation of our forces and to ensuring that they are structured and equipped to perform the most demanding tasks. In addition to the strategic defence review restructuring, we have embarked on a substantial programme of re-equipment and modernisation, representing a huge investment in our forces. Every year, we spend some £10 billion on equipment, yet some people still accuse us of looking for defence on the cheap. Let me make it clear that that is nonsense. Certainly, we want to be efficient and make every pound spent on defence count. However, we do not and will not compromise on the equipment with which we provide our forces. It is world-beating and will remain so.
As evidence of that, we are in the process of fitting all our attack submarines with the tactical land attack cruise missile, the TLAM, which was used to great effect during the Kosovo campaign. It is the envy of almost every other navy in the world; currently, only the Americans have it. We will have an enhanced stand-off precision-strike capability in Storm Shadow, an air-launched cruise missile. Only a few weeks ago, I attended the roll-out of the first Apache attack helicopter for the Army. We recently signed a contract worth about £60 million to provide more than 100 new all-terrain vehicles for 3 Commando Brigade.
We are undertaking major programmes to modernise existing equipment. Both the air defence and the ground attack variants of the Tornado are being improved. In the longer term, we have a collection of major programmes, such as Eurofighter, the future offensive air system, the future carrier-borne aircraft, two new aircraft carriers, the Astute class of nuclear-powered attack submarine, the type 45 destroyer, the future strategic tanker aircraft and the airborne stand-off radar. Those will all result in significant enhancements to the capabilities and utility of our forces.
Nevertheless, looking ahead must not distract us from the capability of our forces today. They operate with world-class equipment. For example, the Army has recently deployed to Kosovo with the Challenger 2 tank, which represents a quantum leap in standards of performance and reliability. At the other extreme, the clothing of our deployed soldiers is better than it has ever been. That is not just my view: it is the view of men and women in our armed forces with whom I have spoken.
Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow): On the Challenger 2, may I say first that I did my national service with the regiment that now operates the tank, and I have been told that it is extremely effective? That is good news.
My right hon. Friend is a careful and scholarly lawyer, so he might not care to comment on an issue arising in connection with Kosovo, but I should like to draw his attention to the article in The Sunday Times of 16 April, which appeared under the byline of Lois Rogers, "Ailing troops sue over Balkan war syndrome". At some point in
the debate, may we have an answer stating what action the Ministry of Defence is taking? I understand that soldiers who served in former Yugoslavia plan to sue the Ministry after suffering chronic health problems, which they believe are caused by Balkan war syndrome. The case involves 12 people, 11 of whom are serving service men.
Mr. Hoon: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his comments about the Challenger tank, and I look forward to discussing with him the details of his national service, because I can, no doubt, learn a lot from him in that respect.
On the issue of the newspaper accounts that appeared on or around 16 April, I have to say that I have read only those accounts, nothing more. My Department will consider carefully the legal submissions made to us, and we shall respond with a course of legal action, should we judge that to be necessary. I am sure my hon. Friend understands why I do not wish to comment further at this time.
Mr. Dalyell: Of course. Thank you very much.
Mr. Hoon: All Governments experience problems with the range of equipment used in the course of fulfilling their defence responsibilities. We have acknowledged those problems and, where we can, are taking decisive early action to solve them. For example, the difficulties of the SA80 rifle have been well documented, but we are taking action to address them.
However, the problems need to be kept in perspective. Let us take as an example the recent media stories about the Lynx rotorhead. Yes, there is a safety problem and, yes, it affected the availability of the aircraft--but it has not stopped us meeting key operational tasks. For example, only last week, HMS Manchester's Lynx operating in the Caribbean helped local police to locate drugs on Montserrat. The aircraft are still flying and still fulfilling their operational responsibilities.
Too often overlooked is the fact that, day in, day out, our forces are properly equipped to do the job they are required to do. The Government would never settle for anything less. We are, naturally, aware of the costs: building and sustaining world-class armed forces is an expensive business that requires sustained and significant investment over the long term. That is what the Government are engaged in. Defence is not an activity in which we can afford to cut corners.
As was so eloquently described by right hon. and hon. Members during last month's debate, there is a human cost as well. Being engaged, as we are, on the world stage asks a great deal of our armed forces and of their families. We have faced problems with overstretch. Last July, some 47 per cent. of the trained Army was preparing for, on, or recovering from operations. Such a level of commitment takes its toll on the personal lives of the armed forces and of their families. We were determined to do something about overstretch, and as a result the figure is now about 27 per cent.--lower than that which we inherited in 1997.
We have achieved this reduction in overstretch by reducing commitments where we sensibly can, and by thinking imaginatively about how we manage the commitments that remain. As my hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces told the House last month, we have
awarded a £20 million contract for the installation of a new telecommunications network, which will free 260 Royal Signallers from their Balkans commitment by the end of this year.There is more we can do--and are doing--to reduce or ameliorate the pressures on our personnel and their families. For example, for the first time in 50 years, we are planning to increase the size of the Army by more than 3,000 posts, but we will not opt out of playing our part internationally. Our resolution has been demonstrated during the past 12 months when we have deployed, often at very short notice, to places such as East Timor and Mozambique.
In East Timor last September, we contributed almost 300 personnel to the United Nations-backed international force, deployed in response to growing concerns about the humanitarian situation there. In Mozambique, RAF Puma helicopters and Royal Navy Sea King helicopters operating from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Fort George delivered almost 1,000 tonnes of humanitarian supplies after devastating flooding in that country. At the same time, we have maintained a significant presence in the Balkans.
It is hardly surprising that events in the Balkans have been prominent. This time last year, we were engaged with our NATO allies in a remarkable contest of will with Milosevic. It was a resounding success. Our convictions were shared by our NATO allies and by many other countries. What we did was necessary and it was right. To have successfully returned hundreds of thousands of refugees to their homes and to be rebuilding the society in which they live is a magnificent achievement, and one of which we can justly be proud. This is what our defence and security policy means in practice: making the world a better and a safer place.
The situation in the Balkans is by no means resolved, but we should not underestimate the real success of the international community in changing things for the better. Dealing with such deep-seated problems as exist in the region will never be easy, but we are now seeing significant progress.
Mr. Dalyell: There is the problem of 280,000 Serbs who are now refugees from Kosovo. That is the figure given by the UN agencies; the Serbian Government figure is 350,000. It is a human tragedy.
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