§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the number and type of aircraft involved, and the dates, of Royal Air Force training deployments to(a) Morocco and (b) Egypt, since 1984.
§ Mr. HanleyAlthough records are not held centrally to cover the period in question, the following RAF aircraft are known to have been involved in deployments to Morocco and Egypt since 1989:
(a) Morocco: (i) May 1989: Four Tornado GRIs and four Chinooks plus Hercules and tanker support. (ii) June 1989: Two Jaguars. (iii) April 1990: Two Tornado GRIAs. (b) Egypt: (i) April 1990: Four Tornado F3s and five Buccaneers based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus flew a number of sorties in Egyptian airspace. (ii) October 1991: Ten Tornado F3s, six Buccaneers, one Nimrod and one VC10 tanker based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus flew a number of sorties in Egyptian airspace.
Dates Number and type of aircraft Low-level sorties Squadrons deployed 1 May to 14 May 7 Tornado GR1 GR1/1A 114 GR1/1A 27 Squadron 2GR1A F3 115 43 Squadron 8 Tornado F3
Dates Number and type of aircraft Low level stories Squadron deployed 17 April to 1 May 7 Tornado GRI GRI/1A 99 GRI/1A 13 Squadron 2 GRIA F3 99 F3 29 Squadron 8 Tornado F3 C-130 18 C-130 47 Squadron 1 C-130 Only crews from the squadrons indicated deployed on these exercises.