§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many S10 NBC suits his Department has in stock and what is the average life expectancy from first use. [16159]
§ Mr. IngramThe current in-service NBC suit is the Mk4. There are sufficient stocks of the suit to meet defence planning assumptions. I am withholding the information relating to specific quantities under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
The Mk4 NBC suit has a shelf life, vacuum packed, of eight years. Once unpacked, the suit remains operational for 28 days. In adverse biological and chemical environmental conditions this time would be considerably reduced.