§ Lord Astor of Heverasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their general policy on the installation of defensive suites to military transport aircraft; and how extensively they are installed. [HL1327]
§ Lord BachMilitary transport aircraft are fitted with defensive aids suites appropriate to their role for any given mission or operation. As a general policy, sets of equipment are procured for a proportion of each fleet as it is prohibitive to procure a fleet-wide fit. All of the Hercules C-130K fleet and about half of the 25 Hercules C-130J fleet are equipped with infra-red defensive countermeasures. Additionally, some of these aircraft have an enhanced defensive capability. Tristar passenger aircraft and the C-17 transport aircraft were all recently fitted with advanced defensive countermeasures for operations in Iraq. Further details of systems fitted to individual aircraft are classified.