Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Nicholas Winterton (Conservative). It was answered by Lord Browne of Ladyton (Labour) on Monday, 21 July 2008 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Helicopters

Question: What recent assessment he has made of the availability of helicopters for deployment in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Answer: In my written statement on 20 May, I set out in great detail the considerable efforts we are making on this issue. We have increased helicopter flying hours in Afghanistan by over a third since March last year, including uplifts to Chinook and Apache hours; we have deployed upgraded Sea King helicopters there as well, and we are converting eight Chinook helicopters to a support role. The Merlin helicopter is deployed to Iraq; the six additional Merlin aircraft that we procured from Denmark will augment our fleet by 25 per cent.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 479 c512; 219808
Session: 2007-08
Oral question type: Lead
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Iraq Helicopters Peacekeeping operations Military aircraft Afghanistan
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk