§ 5. Mr. James Gray (North Wiltshire)If he will make a statement on the Medicine Man exercises which will take place this year at the British Army training unit, Suffield. [127260]
§ The Minister for the Armed Forces (Mr. John Spellar)Normally, five Medicine Man exercises at battle group level are conducted at BATUS in Canada each year. This year, however, there is only one standard Medicine Man; two have been cancelled because the units originally earmarked are committed to operations in the Balkans, and the final two exercises are being combined into Exercise Iron Hawk. That will be a brigade level exercise and will involve 3,200 soldiers from the lead reconnaissance taskforce and the lead aviation taskforce. It is an exciting development and will be the first time that helicopters have exercised at BATUS on such a scale. It will be an excellent opportunity for the troops involved to operate at that level.
§ Mr. GrayWill the Minister join me in congratulating the 250 permanent staff whom we have in the training 8 facility in Canada, which is larger than all the British Army's other training areas put together—a superb facility for training in high-intensity warfare? The Minister speaks about Iron Hawk. Was that not put together at the last minute, to cover up the fact that of the five full battle group exercises that are normally allowed in BATUS, only one can be carried out this year, for two reasons: first, because of overstretch, as the Minister correctly mentions—we simply do not have the troops to go there to take part in an exercise—and secondly, because of budgetary cuts? Is that not a disgraceful waste of one of the finest assets that the British Army has?
§ Mr. SpellarThe hon. Gentleman has got that quite wrong. Does he think that we should not contribute troops to the international effort in Kosovo and Bosnia? The moneys allocated for Medicine Man 2 and 3 have been put into Medicine Man 4 and 5, which have been combined into a brigade level exercise. That is an enhancement of capability, a better kind of training and, if successful, could well be the template for the future. It is an interesting and successful story, and I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me the opportunity to draw it to the attention of the House.
§ Mr. Robert Key (Salisbury)That was a remarkable display of smoke and mirrors. The fact of the matter is that training at BATUS in Canada has been cut, which is bad news when we need to train for high-intensity warfare. Does the Minister recall that the Royal Marines cancelled their winter exercises in Norway? Has he noticed that only a handful of units have had time for biological and chemical defence training? Does he recall that HMS Westminster was pulled off an exercise and sent to enhance the millennium party on the Thames? Is he aware that in the spearhead battalions of the rapid reaction corps, only one in seven Lynx helicopters is fit to fly, and the pilots are queuing up for one-hour trips round the bay to keep their hands in? The Minister must stop the downward spiral. What does he intend to do—cut commitments or increase defence spending?
§ Mr. SpellarThe hon. Gentleman excels himself. He referred to Lynx helicopters. Let us be clear that there is a technical problem with rotor heads. I suspect that those rotor heads were probably ordered under a previous Conservative Administration. However, armies, air forces and, indeed, airline companies face such inevitable problems.
The hon. Gentleman also mentioned a Royal Marines exercise in Norway. I went there, and several hundred troops were engaged in the exercise, notably the Royal Logistic Corps, which provided the logistics for the majority of the exercise, and the Air Force. The Royal Marines had been detached to other duties. The hon. Gentleman may have noticed that we were rather busy last year. We have been engaged in several operations.
Once again, we have to return to the core question: if Conservative Members keep returning to the Dispatch Box to make points about overstretch, they should tell us what commitments they would cut.