§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Chinooks were unserviceable during Exercise Saif Sareea 2; and for what period of time. [11747]
§ Mr. HoonThe eight Chinook helicopters deployed on Exercise Saif Sareea 2 performed well in very testing environmental conditions. Their availability varied throughout the exercise. This was in part affected by engineering instructions issued from the UK that required non-exercise related maintenance on a number of air frames.
The average daily availability rate during the main period of the exercise was around 70 per cent.