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1 July 2009 : Column 248W—continued

The number of cannibalisations in each of the last 12 months broken down by aircraft is provided in the following table.

	2008						2009
	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May
Harrier (all types)	82	71	58	102	89	75	61	91	45	88	55	78
Tornado GR4	172	188	132	140	158	198	160	178	163	194	104	119
Tornado F3	27	13	10	11	9	10	7	5	5	7	10	0
Typhoon	44	61	47	59	61	36	53	36	55	80	55	22
Nimrod MR2	16	7	17	14	8	8	8	5	18	14	2	6
Nimrod R1	0	2	3	1	0	4	2	10	9	7	2	3
Sea King	10	21	14	17	12	15	12	9	13	13	16	12
Tristar	5	6	16	3	4	0	7	3	5	6	9	1
VC10	14	6	6	10	19	13	10	3	4	14	7	3
Hercules C130K	35	16	13	25	21	15	11	12	15	9	8	11
Hercules C130J	66	48	33	57	55	37	33	42	15	24	34	17
Sentinel R1(1)	—	—	—	—	2	2	12	10	7	2	4	8
Sentry	4	9	3	5	7	1	3	5	3	2	13	6
BAe 125	2	13	4	2	4	2	0	4	7	10	1	2
BAe 146	0	1	1	0	0	5	3	5	1	0	4	0
C17	3	7	5	4	3	5	4	1	3	5	3	4
Dominie	17	11	5	2	2	0	2	0	2	0	0	0
Hawk	13	14	5	7	13	14	11	13	22	37	13	26
Tucano	1	3	0	1	2	2	0	0	1	2	0	2
Vigilant	1	2	2	2	1	1	0	2	1	1	0	0
Viking	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1. Sentinel R1 figures for June to September 2008 are not available

Army: Clothing

Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the merits of replacing bearskin caps worn by the Guards Regiments with caps made from synthetic material. [282942]

Mr. Quentin Davies: The Ministry of Defence has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to the use of faux fur products in military ceremonial clothing wherever a suitable alternative can be found to real fur. Examples of this include the Busby cap worn by the members of the Royal Horse Artillery and the Shako hat worn by the Rifles Regiments.

Officials met with representatives of several potential suppliers at an Industry Day on 23 October 2008 to investigate whether the market could deliver an alternative solution to meet the Guards' requirements. Our conclusion is that industry is not currently able to produce a synthetic material with the properties required for the ceremonial cap, whose iconic design is closely associated with this nation's traditions and is recognised around the world.

However, we remain open to testing material that industry might offer us as a potential synthetic alternative.

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