§ Mr. BluntTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 10 May 1999,Official Report, columns 13–14, on manning levels, on the assumption that (i) progress towards full manning was as predicted in the Strategic Defence Review, (ii) the level of operational commitment was as deployed in Bosnia currently and (iii) 5,000 troops were deployed in Kosovo indefinitely, how many additional (a) major units and (b) trained soldiers the Army would require to sustain 24 month tour intervals. [86277]
§ Mr. George RobertsonThis is a hypothetical question. It is impossible at this stage to say what the long-term force levels will be either in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia or in Bosnia. If we were to conduct planning on the basis of the assumptions in this question, as I indicated in my previous answer, many variables could affect the calculation of the number of major units and trained soldiers required.