§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many(a) main battle tanks and (b) other armoured fighting vehicles, broken down by type, were deployed to Iraq for the purposes of military operations there; what proportions of each of these (i) were destroyed or seriously damaged in action, (ii) were 953W rendered unserviceable through other causes and (iii) were operationally available at the conclusion of the fighting. [112088]
§ Mr. IngramThe information requested is as follows.
116 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks (CR2) were deployed to theatre.982 other armoured fighting vehicles were deployed on OP TELIC broken down as follows:
Vehicle type Number Challenger Armoured Recovery Vehicles (CRARRV) 26 WARRIOR—Medium Armoured Fighting Vehicles 239 CVR(T)—Light Armoured Fighting Vehicles 212 FV 430—Light Armoured Fighting Vehicles 430 AS90—155mm Artillery Piece 32 AVLB—Armoured Vehicle Launching Bridge 12 AVRE—Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineer 12 CET—Combat Engineer Tractor 19 Of the vehicles listed in the previous table, five were destroyed as follows:
Vehicle type How destroyed CR2 Tank Battle CVR(T) SCIMITAR Air Land Battle CVR(T) SCIMITAR Air Land Battle CVR(T) SCIMITAR Rolled Vehicle CVR(T) SULTAN Drowned Vehicle Availability of armoured vehicle types fit for combat between the beginning of the deployment and the conclusion of decisive combat operations on 30 April varied as shown:
Vehicle type % Availability CR2 73–97 CRARRV 81–100 WARRIOR 74–96 CVR(T) 78–100 FV430 75–98 AS90 88–100 AVLB 75–100 AVRE 67–100 CET 11–83 Availability of armoured vehicles fit for combat at the conclusion of decisive combat operations is listed.
Vehicle type % Availability CR2 73 CRARRV 95 WARRIOR 78 CVR(T) 80 FV430 84 AS90 100 AVLB 100 AVRE 100 CET 53 These figures were compiled under operational conditions and may therefore be subject to further revision.