§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many injuries have occurred to service men and service women as a result of the SA80A1's reliability problems. [70703]
§ Dr. MoonieNone.
§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what faults have been reported with the(a) SA80A2 and (b) SA80A1. [70710]
§ Dr. MoonieApproximately 24,000 SA80 A2 rifles have now been deployed to the armed forces and eight Equipment Failure Reports (resulting in an inoperable weapon) have been received from units. These reports includes weapons deployed with service shooting teams and infantry units as well as troops deployed to Afghanistan. Three of these reports relate to the trigger guard, three to magazine related parts, one was a welding failure on the sighting system and one related to stoppages experienced. Those reports that related to damage in transit have been disregarded since they are not an equipment failure.
There have been 1,361 recorded faults (resulting in an inoperable weapon), with the SA80 Al in the last three years. A breakdown of recorded faults with the SA80 since 1986 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what investigations his Department has made into the reliability and accuracy of the rifle grenade-launching capability of the SA80 A2; and what impact it has had on the accuracy of the rifle's optical sight. [70693]
§ Dr. MoonieThe SA80 A2 rifle entered service late last year. There have been no indications of reliability or accuracy problems when using the A2 in conjunction with the Rifle Grenade General Service (RGGS). Tests were conducted by QinetiQ prior to the A2's introduction to validate with the modified rifle the results of earlier exhaustive performance trials using the SA80 Al with the RGGS. Some rifle-launched grenades no longer in use did on occasion cause damage to the Al and its optical sight, but since its introduction into service in 1996 the RGGS has been found to be safe in this respect. For maximum accuracy it is used with a dedicated prismatic sight.
§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the(a) SA80A1 and (b) SA80A2 rifles to be admitted to the NATO nominated weapons list. [70702]
§ Dr. MoonieThe modified SA80 A2 was accepted onto the NATO nominated weapons list in March 2002. We have no intention of seeking the readmittance of the SA80 Al onto the list as it is being replaced by the modified SA80 A2.
§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what proportion of the SA80A2 rifles failed to meet the target of 10,000 rounds before failure during testing in Kuwait under hot/dry conditions; [70707]
758W(2) what proportion of the SA80 (a) A2 and (b) A 1 rifles failed to meet the target of 10,000 rounds before failure during testing; [70700]
(3) what proportion of the SA80A1 rifles failed to meet the target of 10,000 rounds before failure during testing under hot/dry conditions. [70706]
§ Dr. MoonieBoth the SA80A1 and the SA80A2 were tested during trials in 2001 against the Battlefield Mission rather than a 10,000 round target. The 10,000 round figure relates to the manufacturer's expected life of component parts of the weapon. The new Battlefield Mission requires the rifle to fire in a number of different environments over a prolonged period of time. These included cold and dry conditions in Alaska, hot and wet conditions in Brunei, hot and dry conditions in Kuwait and temperate conditions in the United Kingdom.
The SA80A2 averaged 98 per cent. reliability during trials across all climates and during testing in Kuwait achieved 95 per cent. reliability. The target set for SA80A2 is 90 per cent. reliability. The SA80A1 averaged 55 per cent. reliability across the various climates and during testing in Kuwait achieved 6 per cent. reliability.
§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what inquiries were made by his Department into whether the use of the stabiliser developed by Warminster was considered in SA80 modifications. [70701]
§ Dr. MoonieI assume the stabiliser the hon. Member is referring to is the Vortices Activated Muzzle Stabiliser (VAMS), which was designed to improve the accuracy of the Light Support Weapon. Trials were undertaken at Warminster in 1992 using SA80 Als, but when fitted with the VAMS, the weapon failed to meet accuracy requirements. The VAMS was not therefore procured.