§ Rear-Admiral Morgan Gilesasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many different types of aircraft are in service with the Royal Air Force in the Far East; and how many of these types are still in current production.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesThere are fifteen types of aircraft in service with the Royal Air Force in the Far East, although not all of these are in front line service. One of these types is still in current production. To some extent this number results from the wide range of rôles undertaken by the Far East Air Force, but when our major aircraft replacement programme is complete, this number should fall to about twelve. It should certainly not be concluded from the current position that the force is obsolete, though it would have been in danger of becoming so in a few years' time, but for the decisions on the new aircraft programme taken by Her Majesty's Government.
§ Rear-Admiral Morgan Gilesasked the Secretary of State for Defence what types of fast light communication aircraft are in service with the Royal Air Force in the Far East; what new types it is intended to supply; how many of each will be provided; and when these will be available.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesThe Answer to the first two parts of the Question is: "None". In addition to the Whirlwind and Sycamore helicopters available for flights within Singapore Island, the main fixed wing types used for communication flights between Singapore and the distant stations of the Far East Air Force are the Andover, Hastings, Argosy and Pembroke. It is our policy to minimise the number of different types of aircraft in Royal Air Force service; for communications duties this means using, wherever possible, aircraft already in service for a specifically military rôle, at least in a related version.