HC Deb 05 December 2001 vol 376 cc351-2W
Mr. Laws

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many helicopters are in service in the(a) Army, (b) Navy and (c) Air Force; if he will break these down by number and type; and if he will make a statement. [18804]

Mr. Ingram

The numbers of helicopters in service in the Army, Navy and Air Force as at 26 November, broken down by number and type are shown in the table.

Helicopter Actual operating fleet Sustainment fleet1 Disposal2 Comments
Navy
Merlin Mk1 20 15 0
Sea King AEW Mk2/7 10 3 0
Sea King HU Mk5 10 5 2
Sea King ASW Mk6 18 0 263
Lynx HAS Mk3 31 7 0
Lynx HAS Mk8 22 14 0
Sea King Mk4 33 4 0 JHC Asset
Army
Lynx 834 40 0 JHC Asset
Gazelle 1204 14 0 JHC Asset
Bell 212 3 0 0 JHC Asset
A 109 3 1 0 JHC Asset
Apache AH Mk1 10 8 0 JHC Asset
RAF
Sea King Mk3 19 0 0
Sea King Mk3a 6 0 0
Merlin Mk3 6 1 0 JHC Asset
Wessex HC2 8 2 0 JHC Asset
Puma 35 6 0 JHC Asset
Chinook Mk3 0 4 0 JHC Asset
Chinook Mk2/2a 28 12 0 JHC Asset
1 The sustainment fleet includes helicopters undergoing scheduled base maintenance, those that are in development and those held in reserve.
2 Helicopters awaiting disposal.
3 This figure reflects the airframes awaiting disposal following the introduction of the Merlin aircraft.
4 Includes nine aircraft that are School of Army Aviation assets.