Heavy-lift Aircraft (Hansard, 3 April 2000)

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what aircraft was used to take Puma helicopters to Mozambique; how long the journey took; and what estimate he has made of how long it would have taken for an equivalent number of helicopters to have arrived in a complete state had Boeing C-17 aircraft been used for the transportation. [116599]

§ Mr. Spellar
An An-124 aircraft was used to carry four Puma helicopters to Heudspruit, South Africa. The journey time from Brize Norton to Heudspruit took 16 hours 50 minutes; the flight time was 14 hours ten minutes. Two C-17 aircraft would have been required to transport the four Pumas and, as the cruise speeds are similar, the flight times would have been similar to the An-124. It was necessary to remove the rotors and rotor head for the Pumas to be transported in the An-124. It is assessed that the same degree of dismantlement would have been necessary had C-17 been used.

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how long it would take for an Antonov 124, if purchased by his Department, to be placed on the British Military List; and what impact this would have on protecting its operation from interference by foreign powers. [116598]
300W

§ Dr. Moonie
Details of our assessment of these issues forms part of the current decision making process on options to meet our short-term strategic airlift requirement. I am withholding information under Exemption 2 (internal discussion and advice) of the Code of Practice on access to Government Information.

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the unit cost for the purchase of(a) an Antonov 124 and (b) a Boeing C17. [116560]

§ Dr. Moonie
This information is commercially sensitive. I am withholding it under Exemption 13 (third party's commercial confidences) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many aircraft would be available under(a) the Antonov 124 package and (b) the Boeing C17 package. [116497]

§ Dr. Moonie
A final decision on aircraft numbers has yet to be reached and will form part of our overall decision on airlift requirements.

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how long it would take for (i) an Antonov 124, and (ii) a Boeing C17 to carry 40 battle tanks to the Balkans. [116502]

§ Dr. Moonie
That information is not available and could be calculated only at disproportionate cost.

§ Mr. Hoyle
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the C-17 was chartered by the Ministry of Defence from the USAF during the Kosovo conflict; and what the payload was which was offered. [116562]

§ Dr. Moonie
A request for airlift assistance to move the vehicles of a High Velocity Missile Battery was submitted to the USAF on 29 March 1999. The move involved seven C-17 flights using two aircraft flying from Hanover to Skopje. The lift commenced on 1 April and was completed on 4 April 1999.
Under the UK/US Acquisition and Cross Service Agreement, the USAF determine the most appropriate means of transportation, based on their resources available at the time. Therefore, while no actual offer of payload was made, the USAF provided sufficient airlift to meet the stated requirement.