§ 23. Mr. Hardyasked the Secretary of State for Defence what increase in the strength of British air defence has been effected in the last nine months.
§ Mr. PattieThe build-up of Sky Flash missiles for the Phantom force has continued. The transfer of Phantom aircraft from the Royal Navy to the Royal Air Force has been completed and they are now available for home defence. A Rapier squadron for low-level air defence has been formed at RAF Lossiemouth. The new radar site at Nancekuke is operational; and NATO has funded improvements to the radar station at Saxa Vord. In addition, three Royal Auxiliary Air Force Regiment squadrons have been formed for the ground defence of Royal Air Force airfields.
Work on the implementation of the package of air defence measures that I announced last July is coming along well: for example, the first Sidewinder missile has just been fired successfully from a Hawk training aircraft, and trials should be completed in the next few weeks; and spares and support items are being built up to equip the new Lightning squadron. The decision was also taken recently to proceed with the improved Skyflash Mk. 2 missile, which is expected to enter service towards the mid 1980s, and will represent a major enhancement of our air defence capability.
For the longer term, the first Tornado F2 development aircraft has already flown, and production aircraft are likely to be ordered later this year.