§ 17. Mr. BatesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he intends to take to improve the United Kingdom amphibious warfare capability.
§ Mr. AitkenWe are committed to improving Britain's amphibious warfare capability. We recently announced that we are going ahead with a new helicopter carrier and we expect to place an order later this year. We are proceeding with our plans to upgrade our three older landing ships logistic, Sir Bedivere, Sir Percival and Sir Geraint. We are also continuing with project definition studies for replacements for our two assault ships.