HC Deb 05 March 2003 vol 400 cc1027-8W
Mr. Gerald Howarth

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what types of main battle tanks are held by the UK armed forces; and of these how many are being used for(a) static displays and (b) target practice. [100613]

Mr. Ingram

The Main Battle Tank in-service with the United Kingdom armed forces is the Challenger 2, of which there are 386. None of these are used either as static displays or for target practice.

The Ministry of Defence still holds 161 Challenger 1 and two Chieftain Main Battle Tanks. These are no longer in-service, but are not used as static displays or for target practice.

There may well be examples of old, retired Main Battle Tanks used for static display purposes or for target practice but such information is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.