§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what British aircraft, and how many, are patrolling the no fly zones in Iraq; and how many times they have been(a) locked on to by surface-to-air missile batteries,(b) attacked by surface-to-air missiles and (c) threatened by other means. [28896]
§ Mr. IngramThe RAF currently deploys eight Tornado GR4, six Tornado F3, four Jaguar, two VC10 and one Tristar on operations in connection with enforcing the no fly zones.
Between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2001, reports from coalition aircraft patrolling the no fly zones indicated that they were threatened or attacked on 918 occasions, broken down as follows: 64 radar threats; 55 attacks by surface-to-air missiles; and 799 other threats, primarily attacks by anti-aircraft guns.