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10 Oct 2005 : Column 17W—continued
Surface Fleet
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 19 July 2005, Official Report, column 1540W, on surface fleet, which ships he expects will be available (a) on active service and (b) in reserve in (i) 2012, (ii) 2013 and (iii) 2014. [15813]
Mr. Ingram: It is currently planned that the Royal Navy will operate a fleet of 25 destroyers and frigates. At present there are no plans for any of these ships to be held at very low readiness other than when undergoing refit or major maintenance work.
TA/Cadet Forces
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the role of each unit of the (a) Territorial Army and (b) cadet forces in Milton Keynes is; and if he will make a statement. [15293]
Mr. Touhig: The information requested is detailed in the following table:
Tain Air Weapons Range
John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many hours the Tain Air Weapons Range was in use for training operations in 2004. [15552]
Mr. Ingram: During 2004, the Tain Air Weapons Range was in use by aircraft for a total of 712 hours and 45 minutes.
John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many sorties were undertaken using the Tain Air Weapons Range in 2004 by (a) RAF aircraft and (b) non-RAF aircraft. [15553]
Mr. Ingram: The information is not held in the form requested; we record the number of passes made over the Tain Air Weapons Range by aircraft training there, rather than the number of sorties. A sortie may involve more than one pass over the range. The following table shows the total number of passes made by aircraft at Tain Air Weapons Range, broken down by RAF and non-RAF aircraft.
| Number of RAF aircraft passes | 20,868 |
| Number of non-RAF aircraft passes | 1,063 |
10 Oct 2005 : Column 18W
Trident Nuclear Missile System
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has held with the US Administration on purchasing a replacement for the Trident nuclear missile system. [16211]
John Reid: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Mr. Moore) on 21 July 2005, Official Report, column 2120W.
Trident/Vanguard Replacements
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether a decision has been taken to replace the Trident D5 missiles and 4 Vanguard class submarines. [16359]
John Reid: I have nothing to add to the answer I gave to the hon. Members for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard) and for New Forest, West (Mr. Swayne) on 6 June 2005, Official Report, column 985.
Typhoon
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what tests have been conducted on the Typhoon's weapons systems on the Gripen; and when he expects weapons testing on the Typhoon to be completed. [15396]
Mr. Ingram: The Meteor missile, which will be integrated onto Typhoon, is using Gripen as its primary development platform. Weapons testing on Typhoon is currently planned to continue at least until 2013 and probably beyond as new generations of weapon become available.
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effects of the decision by the Greek government to purchase the F-16 on the export potential of the Typhoon. [15397]
Mr. Ingram: Eurofighter Typhoon is a world-class aircraft with significant export potential and a number of countries have expressed an interest in the aircraft. In announcing its decision to purchase further F-16 aircraft, the Greek government made clear its intention also to acquire a fourth generation fighter aircraft. The United Kingdom and its Eurofighter Partner Nations believe strongly that Eurofighter Typhoon would meet this requirement. We continue to support our German partners who are leading this campaign.
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made on missile integration for the Typhoon. [15404]
Mr. Ingram:
The advanced short range air-to-air missile (ASRAAM), advanced medium range air-to-air missile (AMRAAM), AIM-9L and IRIS-T are being integrated onto Typhoon; although only the ASRAAM and AMRAAM will be used by the RAF. The majority of this work is now complete and in-service firings of ASRAAM have taken place. Further missile integration onto Typhoon is planned as part of the proposed future capability programme (FCP). The programme is expected to include meteor and stormshadow integration along with upgrades to ASRAAM and AMRAAM.
10 Oct 2005 : Column 19W
Uganda
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assistance the Government are providing to the Ugandan Government for training of soldiers in peacekeeping and protecting civilian populations in northern Uganda. [15549]
Mr. Ingram: The UK provides a small amount of training annually for the Ugandan Peoples' Defence Force (UPDF). This training is funded from both the Africa Conflict Prevention Pool (ACPP) and the Defence Assistance Fund (DAF), and is primarily targeted at increasing national capacity to conduct Peace Support Operations (PSO).
Training activities include the deployment of Short Term Training Teams to Uganda and attendance on relevant courses in UK. Funding has also been provided for Kenyan instructors to deliver a two week PSO package at the Ugandan Staff College. In addition, the UK funded International Mine Action Training Centre in Nairobi has recently commenced the training of 140 UPDF engineers in humanitarian de-mining in preparation for mine clearance operations in northern Uganda, overseen by the UN Development Programme and the Mines Awareness Trust. A similar programme of activities is being developed for 2006–07.
Our Defence Adviser in Kampala provides general advice to the UPDF on dealing with the threat from the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) and protecting the civilian population in northern Uganda, including theInternally Displaced Persons (IDP) in camps. The importance of protecting the civilian population is routinely stressed in contacts with the Ugandan authorities.
DfID has separately provided approximately £2.5 million in non-military assistance for conflict resolution efforts in northern and eastern Uganda. In addition, DfID is supporting a number of programmes responding to the plight of vulnerable groups affected by conflict. This includes help to protect children who commute into main towns each night to avoid abduction by the LRA. Furthermore, UNICEF has a protection team based in northern Uganda, which the UK helps finance. This team undertakes specific interventions to make the environment safer for women and children in the IDP camps.
UK Military Advice/Training
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many training courses held in the UK the UK has provided to military personnel from overseas in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) country of origin and (b) number of personnel involved . [15940]
Mr. Ingram: During the period 1997 to date, the UK has provided training courses in the UK for military personnel from 145 countries.
A table, which has been placed in the Library, contains a complete list of those countries broken down by country of origin and number of personnel involved in each year since 1997.
10 Oct 2005 : Column 20W
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what assessment he has made of the (a) extent and (b) impact of the UK's human rights training of foreign military personnel; and if he will make a statement; [15943]
(2) if he will list the countries to which the UK has provided human rights training in (a) the military and (b) other security sectors in each year since 1997; and what (i) type and (ii) duration of training was provided in each case. [15942]
Mr. Ingram: The Ministry of Defence does not provide human rights training as a specific subject, but we reinforce adherence to the key principles in much of the training we offer. MOD training underlines the role of military forces within wider civil society, the importance of conducting activities within the rule of law, the role and importance of proportionate rules of engagement, and ensuring the proper democratic controls. It is not possible to isolate these aspects of our training for analysis.
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