§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether any British Service men are in the hands of Argentine authorities arising out of recent hostilities; and what are the numbers concerned.
§ Mr. BlakerThere is one British Service man held by the Argentines: Flight Lieutenant G. W. Glover.
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many Argentine air force or naval pilots have been captured; and what is the total number of Argentine prisoners in British custody, stating the numbers from each Service.
§ Mr. BlakerOf those Argentines currently held prisoner, four have been positively identified as air force pilots. An air force pilot injured when his aeroplane was shot down has been repatriated. On the numbers of Argentine prisoners in British custody, I have as yet nothing to add to the reply given by the Prime Minister to the hon. Member for West Lothian (Mr. Dalyell) on 24 June. I shall publish the information requested in theOfficial Report when it is available.
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his reply of 21 June, Official Report, column 23, whether he is yet able to identify the individual type of weapons used by land forces believed to have been responsible for destroying 25 Argentine aircraft, giving numbers in each case.
§ Mr. BlakerFurther analysis suggests that 27 Argentine aircraft were destroyed by land forces. Eleven of these were destroyed by sabotage, nine by Rapier and seven by hand-held weapons, including Blowpipe.
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his reply of 21 June, Official Report, column 23, whether he is yet able to identify the individual types of sea launched weapons systems believed to have been responsible for destroying 20 Argentine aircraft, giving numbers in each case.
§ Mr. BlakerFurther analysis suggests that 21 Argentine aircraft were destroyed by sea launched weapon systems. Seven of these were destroyed by Sea Dart, five by Sea Wolf, six by Sea Cat, three by naval gunfire.
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his reply of 21 June, Official Report, column 23, whether he will list the number and types of Argentine aircraft which have been confirmed as being (a) destroyed, (b) probably destroyed and (c) damaged during recent operations in and around the Falkland Islands, giving numbers in each case.
§ Mr. BlakerSince my reply to my hon. Friend on 21 June further analysis indicates that the following Argentine aircraft were destroyed in operations in and around the Falkland Islands:
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Numbers A4 Skyhawk 31 Mirage III and V 26 Canberra 1 Pucara 15 Mentor T34 4 Aeromacchi 339 1 Light Aircraft 2
Numbers C130 1 Unidentified aircraft 1 Puma (one destroyed on South Georgia) 7 Chinook 1 Huey Bell 1 Total 91 A further eight Skyhawk or Mirage aircraft were reported to have been possibly destroyed.
These figures are estimates based on reports from British forces. I have nothing further to add to my earlier reply.
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Defence, of those Argentine aircraft destroyed while engaged in bombing missions, what was the estimated numbers of those destroyed (a) before they released their bombs and (b) after the bombs had been dropped.
§ Mr. BlakerThis information is not available.
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many Argentine aircraft were destroyed on the ground out of the 35 believed to have been destroyed by air patrols, the 20 by sea-launched weapons and the 25 by land forces; and if he will give separate figures in each case.
§ Mr. BlakerThis information is not available.
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the success of the Sidewinder missile in the Falklands operation.
§ Mr. BlakerThe Sidewinder missile accounted for at least 23 Argentine aircraft shot down by Harrier aircraft deployed with the task force.