Written question asked by Desmond Swayne (Conservative) on Tuesday, 16 May 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 22 May 2006. It was answered by Adam Ingram (Labour) on Thursday, 25 May 2006 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

RAF Heavy Lift

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to augment the RAF's heavy lift capability.

Answer: [holding answer 22 May 2006]: We keep our airlift capability under review to ensure that we have access to sufficient capacity to support operations and, where necessary, we charter heavy lift aircraft. We plan to purchase from Boeing the four in-service C-17s currently on lease, and we are looking at the possibility of purchasing a fifth, though we have not yet made a final decision. The RAF's lift capability will also be considerably enhanced when the A400M comes into service early in the next decade.

Secondary information