Military Aircraft: Helicopters
Defence
Written answers and statements, 23 February 2009
Liam Fox (Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, Defence; Woodspring, Conservative)
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many helicopters were in service with the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) RAF in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2009, broken down by type.
Bob Ainsworth (Minister of State (Armed Forces), Ministry of Defence; Coventry North East, Labour)
The number of helicopters in service in 1997 and 2009 are shown in the tables. "In service" has been taken to mean the effective fleet, that is all aircraft in Forward and Depth, which are those aircraft expected to be flown by the MOD.
| Army | ||
| Number | ||
| Aircraft type/mark | April 1997 | February 2009 |
| Augusta 109 | 4 | 4 |
| Apache | 0 | 67 |
| Gazelle | 208 | 56 |
| Lynx Mk7/9 | 130 | 96 |
| Royal Navy | ||
| Number | ||
| Aircraft type/mark | April 1997 | February 2009 |
| Lynx Mk3/8 | 78 | 62 |
| Merlin Mk1 | 0 | 42 |
| Sea King Mk2 | 13 | 0 |
| Sea King Mk4 | 37 | 37 |
| Sea King Mk5 | 17 | 15 |
| Sea King Mk6 | 54 | 0 |
| Sea King Mk6CR | 0 | 5 |
| Sea King Mk7 | 0 | 13 |
| Royal Air Force | ||
| Number | ||
| Aircraft type/mark | April 1997 | February 2009 |
| Chinook Mk2/2a | 40 | 40 |
| Merlin Mk3/3a | 0 | 28 |
| Puma | 40 | 34 |
| Sea King Mk3/3a | 23 | 25 |
| Wessex | 16 | 0 |
These figures do not include the eight Chinook Mk3 aircraft being reverted to support helicopter standard. Aircraft leased by the MOD are also excluded.