§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the Army's current inventory is of(a) Challenger I, (b) Challenger II and (c) Warrior vehicles; and how many are operationally available. [129132]
§ Mr. Spellar[holding answer 6 July 2000]: The current inventories for these vehicles are (a) 414, (b) 250 and (c) 786. Information on availability is collated separately in respect of vehicles held by front-line Units and vehicles deployed on operations. The former category excludes certain training vehicles, vehicles in deep repair, vehicles used as reference vehicles and vehicles in storage (e.g. some 300 tanks being stored at Ashchurch as part of the withdrawal from service programme).
Vehicles held by front line units on operations (measured against an immediate availability target only) Vehicle type Percentage operationally available Warrior 96 Challenger I No CRIs deployed on operations Challenger II 87
Vehicles held by front line units (other than on operations) Vehicle type Percentage which could be fully operational within 24 hours Warrior 88 Challenger I 98 Challenger II 89