British Army of the Rhine (Hansard, 23 March 1982)

§ 9. Mr. Trotter
asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will list the steps that have been taken since May 1979 to increase the fighting strength of the Army in Germany.

§ Mr. Wiggin
Since May 1979 major steps taken include full manning, the testing and improvement of reinforcement and mobilisation arrangements, the start of a major reorganisation to improve the operational capability of 1(BR) Corps, and the deployment of a wide range of new equipment, with further re-equipment planned.

§ Mr. Trotter
Will my hon. Friend accept my congratulations on what has been achieved in the British Army of the Rhine? I understand that for the first time the reorganisation has emanated from BAOR instead of being enforced on it by London as an economy measure. Will there be adequate stores of spare parts, ammunition and fuel so that training can continue up to the high standard of our Army in Germany?

§ Mr. Wiggin
Yes, Sir.

§ Mr. Churchill
Does my hon. Friend agree that it is a strange commentary on the proposition put forward by the Defence spokesman for the Labour Party in that when it was in Government, contrary to its suggestion that it would favour a strong, conventional defence, 15 per cent. of the British Army of the Rhine's tanks were in mothballs because it did not provide the resources and manpower for them? Will my hon. Friend accept the warmest congratulations from Conservative Members on the fact that the Government have taken steps to rectify the position?

§ Mr. Wiggin
My hon. Friend scarcely puts a question to me, but he is correct to say that the number of tanks with crews has increased from 469 to 590 since the general election and an extra armoured regiment has been formed. I am grateful to him for his remarks.

§ Mr. McNamara
When were the plans for those improvements laid, because they were not laid within the time that the hon. Member for Stretford (Mr. Churchill) suggested? Does the BAOR have sufficient anti-tank capacity to meet what is coming from the Russians? Can the Minister say whether, because of the reductions in our naval and aircraft cover, we can transfer our reserve forces from the United Kingdom to Germany in sufficient time to meet any threat?

§ Mr. Wiggin
As the hon. Gentleman knows, Exercise Crusader demonstrated that our reinforcement capability is as we planned. That exercise was a great success. Our anti-armour capability has been enhanced with the deployment of Milan. Tow is now entering service with improved warheads planned, Challenger is to be introduced and there are programmes of improvement to Chieftain, as well as the issue of the new man portable Law 80 anti-tank weapon. In general, we are doing a good all-round job in anti-armour.