§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the purpose of Royal Air Force Provost and Security Service monitoring by Skyguard radar of aircraft flying at altitudes higher than 2,000 ft.
§ Mr. HanleyThe purpose of deploying the Skyguard radar system in its low flying monitoring role is to observe military aircraft flying below 2000 ft. However, some tracking of military aircraft flying above 2000 ft is unavoidable. The Skyguard system comprises two radars; a search radar and a tracking radar. Aircraft in the area of monitoring are picked up on the search radar initially before the tracking radar is set to observe a particular aircraft in detail. Only when the tracking radar has locked on to an aircraft can its height be established. Once an aircraft has been identified as flying above 2000 ft, attention is turned to monitoring other aircraft in the area.
§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the system for reporting of breaches of low flying regulations recorded by Skyguard radar; to which units or offices such breaches are reported; and what are the mechanisms for instituting disciplinary proceedings.
§ Mr. HanleyFollowing any apparent breach of low flying regulations recorded by Skyguard, the RAF police conducts further inquiries to identify the aircraft concerned and interview the aircrew. A report is then passed to my Department's secretariat—Air Staff—and copied to other interested parties, including the commanding officer of the aircrew concerned. Where breaches of low flying regulations are not the subject of court martial or summary disposal proceedings under the service discipline Acts, responsibilty for action lies with the commanding officer of the aircrew.
§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what equipment is carried by RAF police in covert 897W monitoring of low flying without use of Skyguard radar; how many aircraft have been observed by such non-radar covert monitoring in each year since 1990; and how many apparent breaches of low flying regulations were detected by these monitoring deployments.
§ Mr. HanleyCovert monitoring of low-flying aircraft without the use of Skyguard is carried out visually by experienced RAF Police observers following a survey of the chosen site. The relative heights and distances of local landmarks are taken into account when conducting the survey.
The number of aircraft observed using these methods since 1990 are as follows:
Year Number of aircraft observed 1990 177 1991 533 1992 276 1993 347 Four apparent breaches of low flying regulations were detected during these covert monitoring deployments.
§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the changes in policy since February 1992 concerning the release of statistical information on the results of Skyguard monitoring of low flying; and what were the reasons for those changes.
§ Mr. HanleySince November 1992 it has been my Department's policy to notify hon. Members in advance when Skyguard low flying monitoring is planned to take place in their general area and arrange for the equipment to be available for the public to see at the end of the deployment. The decision to release statistical information on the results of the monitoring flowed from the revised arrangements.
§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if the equipment used by the RAF police on Skyguard radar deployments to monitor low flying includes radio equipment capable of receiving transmis-sions on the common radio frequency for the United Kingdom low flying system.
§ Mr. HanleyNo.