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Defence Procurement

Fundamentally, I agree with my hon. Friend, and I have said that, but we cannot refuse to allow a debate to take place in this Chamber on such an important matter. There are Members here today with expertise that they are able to bring to bear on these important issues. We provide commanders on the ground with a range of vehicles, which allows them to select the platform most suited to the immediate task in hand. The threat that we face on current operations is constantly evolving and we continue to keep our protected mobility requirements under review. That is why the Prime Minister announced in December that we will be procuring a new vehicle type, to be known as Ridgback, to provide 150 medium-protected patrol vehicles, which are lighter and able to access more areas than the Mastiff, but still with high levels of protection to continue to give commanders the choice of vehicles that they need.