§ Mr. Croninasked the Secretary of State for Defence what progress is being made with equipping all combat air stations with the Rapier defence system.
§ Dr. GilbertAll RAF airfields in Germany are defended by Rapier units, as is one RAF airfield in Scotland. My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Royal Air Force announced plans for the deployment of Rapier at a further airfield in Scotland on 3rd April—[Vol. 947, c. 43.]
We do not plan to defend all RAF combat airfields with Rapier, since the majority of such airfields in Eastern England are defended by the Bloodhound surface-to-air missile system.