§ Mr. TrotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set out, by squadron or similar unit, the level of dedicated(a) Royal Engineer, (b) Royal Signals and (c) other Army support for the Harrier squadrons based in Germany in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThe information requested is as follows:
Royal Engineers: 10 Field Squadron based in Gutersloh and 38 Engineer Regiment (comprising 11 Field Squadron, 32 Field Squadron and 15 Field Support Squadron) based in Ripon will continue to provide this support until 1 December 1992. In future, a minimum of 1 squadron of 39 Engineer Regiment, to be United Kingdom based, will take on this role. The remaining 2 field squadrons will provide Airfield Damage Repair (ADR) to RAF Bruggen and RAF Laarbruch. In his statement to the House 10 December 1991 on the Reserve Forces the then Secretary of State announced that TA Royal Engineers would be taking on greater responsibility for ADR and support of the RAF Harrier force; a TA Regiment, 73 Engineer Regiment (V), will be available to provide ADR and combat support to the Rapid Reaction Force (Air) as well as for the Main Defence Forces.
Royal Signals: From 1979 to 1 April 1992, 21 Signal Regiment provided one squadron to each Harrier airfield in Germany. This task is now undertaken by the RAF Tactical Communications Wing currently based at Brize Norton.