Tornados (Hansard, 24 July 1991)

§ Mr. McFall
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of Royal Air Force training for Tornados to deliver 1,000 lb bombs is conducted at medium level.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
RAF Tornado GR1 aircrew conduct about 5 per cent. of their weapons training practising the delivery of 1,000 lb bombs at medium level.

§ Mr. McFall
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, further to table 6 of the "Statement on the Defence Estimates", how many Tornado aircraft deployed in Germany will be removed under his proposal to reduce the number of Tornado squadrons from seven to four.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
Table 6 of the "Statement on the Defence Estimates" gave a snapshot of, inter alia, the number of Tornado aircraft allotted to units in Germany on 19 November 1990. Fifty-two of the aircraft were Tornado GR1/1a aircraft from the four Tornado squadrons currently at RAF Laarbruch, of which three are to be disbanded and the fourth is to be re-deployed to RAF Marham.

§ Mr. McFall
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) further to paragraph 406 of the "Statement on the Defence Estimates", how many Tornado aircraft will be involved in the reduction of three squadrons;
(2) further to paragraph 406 of the "Statement on the Defence Estimates", how many of the Tornados from the disbanded squadrons (a) will be re-assigned to other squadrons, (b) scrapped and (c) held in storage.
700W

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
As a result of the disbandment of three squadrons currently based in Germany, the total establishment of the RAF Tornado interdiction/strike force, including reserves, will be reduced by 39 aircraft. The surplus aircraft will be either held in storage or re-used as fleet management requirements dictate. There are no plans to scrap any of these aircraft.

§ Mr. McFall
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 216 of the "Statement on the Defence Estimates", how many of the five Tornados lost in combat whilst delivering 1,000lb bombs were conducting operations in concert with Tornados delivering JP-233 bombs.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
One.

§ Mr. McFall
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, further to paragraph 216 of the "Statement on the Defence Estimates", what was the level at which the two Tornados were flying that were lost to direct enemy fire.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
The two aircraft lost to direct enemy fire were conducting loft-attacks with 1,000lb bombs.