§ 23. Mr. ChaytorTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the use of Fylingdales for national missile defence. [93190]
632W
Serial Operational deployment/location Period of operational deployment1 Length of time between operational deployment 1 Operation TELIC Location-Middle East 16 January 2003 to date 7 months 12 days (Serial 2–1) 2 Operation ORACLE Location-Middle East 11 November 2001 to 4 June 2002 10 months 10 days (Serial 3–2) 3 Operation PALATINE Location-Bosnia 11 November 1992 to 1 January 2001 17 months 8 days (Serial 4–3) 4 Operation GRANBY Location-Middle East 5 January 1991 to 3 June 1991 — 1 The objectives contained in Royal Navy guidelines include individual personnel deployments being no longer than nine calendar months and the total deployed time in any three-year period not exceeding 18 months. There has been general adherence to these objectives
§ Mr. HoonAs I informed the House on 15 January 2003, the Government's preliminary conclusion is that we should agree to the US request to upgrade RAF Fylingdales for missile defence purposes. Ballistic missile early warning would continue to be the station's primary role. The upgrade would enable the radar to track incoming missiles more accurately and guide interceptions by defensive missiles if necessary. We will take full account of the views which have been expressed in public and parliamentary discussion before communicating a final decision to the US Administration.