HC Deb 09 July 1969 vol 786 c264W
64. Sir C. Osborne

asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many troops and how much equipment he expects to be able to move annually to east of Suez after 1971 for the annual expenditure of less than £1 million which he has set for the limit for this exercise.

Mr. Healey

I have already outlined our intentions with regard to army training in the Malaysia-Singapore area after 1971. For the Royal Navy, we expect normally to exercise some four ships for up to about four months each year. The Royal Air Force expects to train a number of squadrons of combat aircraft in the area for about a month at a time for perhaps half the year, and transport aircraft will of course be going regularly to and from the area. The precise numbers of men and quantities of equipment that we shall need to move to the Far East for these purposes will depend on the particular training involved in each case and on other circumstances at the time.—[Vol. 786, c. 440.]