§ Lord Roganasked Her Majesty's Government:
What estimated saving, if any, will be made by removing Wessex Helicopters from RAF Aldergrove as proposed in March 2002. [HL11]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)The Wessex reaches the end of its operational service at the end of March 37WA 2002. A decision on a replacement aircraft for the troop flight capability provided by the Wessex has still to be taken. There are, however, unlikely to be savings as replacement helicopters will need to use the support previously provided to the Wessex helicopters.
§ Lord Roganasked Her Majesty's Government:
What has been the residual cost of maintaining Wessex Helicopters at RAF Aldergrove in each of the past five years. [HL12]
§ Lord BachThere are a number of costs allied to the provision of Wessex helicopters in Northern Ireland such as aircrew and engineer salaries, accommodation, fuel, logistics, spares, maintenance etc. This expenditure is not recorded centrally. However, based on the number of flying hours provisioned for Wessex in Northern Ireland, using an aggregate full cost of £7,487 per Wessex flying hour as at 1998 (the intermediate year) prices, the costs for each of the past five years are set out in the table below:
Year Hours Provisioned Costs 1996–97 5,600 £41.927m 1997–98 5,600 £41.927m 1998–99 4,900 £36.686m 1999–2000 4,900 £36.686m 2000–01 4,900 £36.686m