§ Mr. Home RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on his Department's requirement for a basic flight trainer for the Royal Air Force, showing the scale and nature of the requirement, the timetable for procurement, the aircraft which it is designed to replace, and the approximate overall cost of the programme.
§ Mr. AitkenBasic flying training in the RAF is undertaken by all trainee pilots, prior to their undertaking more specialised training in other, fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters. At present, flying training is carried out in 649W either Jet Provost or Tucano aircraft, which are currently replacing the remaining Jet Provost. We expect this replacement to be completed before the end of next year, by which time we will have taken 130 Tucano aircraft into service at an overall cost of some £150 million. We expect the Tucano to meet the RAF's basic flying training requirement until well after the turn of the century.