§ 6. Mr. van Straubenzeeasked the Secretary of State for Defence when the military exercises to test the mobility of British forces in the Far East will start.
§ Mr. HealeyExercises to test the mobility of British forces in the Far East are taking place all the time. The major Commonwealth exercise is planned to take place in Malaysia in the summer of 1970.
§ Mr. van StraubenzeeIs not that exercise intended to show that we can operate our general capability to intervene by bringing British troops to 381 Malaysia unacclimatised and making them instantly operational? If the results of the exercise show that, as medical opinion believes, to be faulty, will it change Government policy?
§ Mr. HealeyWe have here another hypothetical question. We have planned the exercise to prove that we can take troops out fast and in a condition to be able to participate in a major Commonwealth operation, and I have no doubt at all, having seen something of the plans for the exercise, that the demonstration will be effective and very encouraging to our Commonwealth partners.
§ Mr. RipponWill the right hon. Gentleman give us an assurance that the necessary equipment and facilities will be there when the troops are sent out?
§ Mr. HealeyTo a large extent we shall be taking out the equipment, because this is essential to demonstrate that we have the capability to take it there. Some facilities already there will be used. As I told the House on a previous occasion, the forces already in the Far East will primarily be playing the rôle of the enemy in the exercise.
§ Mr. Scott-HopkinsCan the right hon. Gentleman say whether in the proposed exercise in the spring the troops will be kept six weeks to acclimatise before being committed to the Malaysian jungle? Is not this a fact?
§ Mr. HealeyI cannot comment on details of the exercise, because they are still being worked out. We have not yet, for example, had full details of the troops the four other Commonwealth countries plan to commit to the exercise.