§ Lord Marlesfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Which British military units have so far been equipped with the Bowman communications system and which units have not, showing in each case the date by which it is planned to have Bowman in operational use. [HL4857]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)We have always planned for Bowman, like other complex programmes, to be developed and delivered incrementally over the next two years or so from an initial operating capability through to a full operational capability across the land warfare environment.
We intend that the first deployment of Bowman for non-warfighting operations will take place at brigade level next year. We will use the experience from this deployment to inform the continuing programme to deliver the full Bowman capability to the rest of the British Army, and relevant elements units of the other two services. When fully capable, the system will deliver a significantly enhanced communications capability.
172WACurrently, the following formations are being equipped with the Bowman communications and information system; HQ3 (UK) Division, 12 Mechanized Brigade, elements of 3 (UK) Division Combat Service Support (CSS) and 1 (UK) Division CSS, 101 Logistics Brigade, 7 Armoured Brigade, and elements of the Army Training and Recruiting Agency. Regarding the dates and specific units that the noble Lord has requested, it could jeopardise operational security to release this information and I am withholding it under Exemption la (Defence, Security and international relations) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.