§ Mr. Duncan SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the figures are for the mean time between failure for the British Army Light Support Weapon(a) modified and (b) unmodified, and for other Light Support Weapon equivalents used by other armed forces tested by the British army. [114214]
§ Mr. Spellar[holding answer 13 March 2000]: The mean time between failure expressed as mean rounds between failure for modified Light Support Weapon as tested on recent trials, firing a Battlefield mission of 960 rounds in 37 minutes, is greater than 2,500 rounds in all climates and with all NATO qualified ammunition types. Of the other Light Support Weapon systems tested, the mean rounds between failure range from 398 to 2,008 rounds.
I am withholding details of the performance of the unmodified LSW under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
§ Mr. Duncan SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the most recent field trial report on(a) SA80 and (b) LSW. [114215]
§ Mr. Spellar[holding answer 13 March 2000]: The report to which the hon. Member refers is classified and is withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice for the release of Government Information.
§ Mr. Duncan SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what are the figures for the mean time between failures for(a) the SA80 as modified, (b) the G36, (c) 51G (Swiss Army), (d) DEMAR. Co, (e) M16 and (f) other personal weapons recently tested by the Army; [114217]
299W(2) what reliability tests the armed forces have carried out on personal weapons used by other armed forces, with particular reference to (a) G.36, (b) S/G (Swiss Army), (c) DEMAR. Co (upgraded M16) and (d) M16. [114216]
§ Mr. Spellar[holding answer 13 March 2000]: The mean time between failure expressed as mean rounds between failure for the modified SA 80 Individual Weapon (IW) as tested on recent trials, firing a Battlefield mission of 150 rounds in eight minutes 40 seconds, is greater than 2,500 rounds in all climates and with all NATO qualified ammunition types.
The mean round between failure for G36, Diemaco and SIG is commercially sensitive. However only one Weapon system was considered comparable to the modified SA80 1W.
The reliability tests for all the Weapons systems have been based on the firing of 21 Battlefield missions.