HC Deb 06 April 2000 vol 347 cc552-3W
Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how long would it take for (i) an Antonov 124 and (ii) a Boeing C-17 to carry an equal amount of supplies, based on the maximum that the lesser carrying aircraft can carry, to(a) East Timor and (b) Mozambique. [116501]

Dr. Moonie

The estimated flight times to East Timor and Mozambique for the two types of aircraft would be similar, since both cruise at roughly the same airspeed. En-route, both aircraft would require refuelling stops of about two hours and one crew change. However, the C-17 is capable of being refuelled in the air and, therefore, apart from having to land for a crew change, it could avoid the intermediate refuelling stops.

The flying time to East Timor is about 26 hours. Two stops would be required by the An-124 and four stops by the C-17. The total journey time would be 30 hours for the An-124 and 34 hours for the C-17 (or 28 hours with air to air refuelling for the C-17).

The flying time to Mozambique is about 15 hours. The An-124 would require one stop and two for the C-17. The total journey time would be 17 hours for the An-124 and 19 hours for the C-17 (or 17 hours for the C-17 with air to air refuelling).

Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what(a) volume and (b) weight of cargo a single (i) Antonov 124 and (ii) Boeing c-17 could have taken to (a) East Timor and (b) Mozambique. [116500]

Dr. Moonie

The An-124 and the C-17 would have the same cargo capabilities to East Timor as they would to Mozambique; these would be:

  1. (i)An-124 could carry (a) a volume of 1,160 cu m or (b) a weight of 120 tonnes.
  2. (ii)C-17 could carry (a) a volume of 580 cu m or (b) a weight of 76.8 tonnes.

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