Written question asked by Gerald Howarth (Conservative) on Thursday, 20 April 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 24 April 2006. It was answered by Adam Ingram (Labour) on Thursday, 27 April 2006 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Eurofighter Typhoon

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Typhoon aircraft have been delivered to the RAF; how many are currently unserviceable; and if he will list the length of time for which each unserviceable Typhoon aircraft has been in that condition.

Answer: 26 Typhoon aircraft have been delivered to the RAF to date. In common with all aircraft types, the availability of Typhoon varies from day-to-day to take into account planned maintenance and issues arising during flying sorties. As an example, on 25 April 2006 two of the 26 aircraft were out of service as part of a pre-planned retrofit programme being conducted at BAES Warton (seven and 77 days), and one aircraft was undergoing routine technical maintenance (14 days) for which a near-term solution is in prospect. A further three aircraft were awaiting longer-term logistic support solutions that are being addressed as the fleet grows incrementally (30 days, 57 days and 12 months). Finally, one aircraft is awaiting repair following a controlled emergency landing in January 2006.

Secondary information