Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of replacing real bear fur bearskin hats with faux fur bearskin hats for use in the military.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2022 to Question 110598 on RAF Valley: Noise, what information his Department holds on the proportion of flying hours that Texan training planes have flown over (a) Arfon (b) North Wales and (c) overwater; and if he will provide a list of counties where training flights have taken place.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of levels of noise pollution from Texan training planes flying over Arfon; and what recent steps he has taken to reduce noise disruption.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average career length is for an infantry soldier who joins aged (a) under 18 and (b) 18 or above, including time spent in training.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many infantry enlistees were (a) aged 16, (b) aged 17, and (ci) aged 18 or above, between 2001 and 2020, and how many individuals joined the infantry as officer cadets over the period.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans there are for civilian defence in the event of a nuclear attack.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of Texan trainer aircraft operating from RAF Valley have been fitted with the Universal Water Activated Release System harness.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what further steps his Department has taken to reduce noise disruption from Texan trainer aircraft operating from RAF Valley.
Hywel Williams: ...on Ukraine, that the UK’s role was “to lead the West”. In the meantime, Germany has put Nord Stream 2 on hold indefinitely. Today, the European Union has sanctioned Duma deputies, the Russian Defence Minister and the Russian air force and Black sea fleet commanders, and it has brought in asset freezes and sanctioned 23 individuals, five banks and an internet troll factory. The USA...
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to point 5 of his letter of 20 April 2021, reference MSU4.6.7.2, what progress has been made since on improvements to Texan trainer aircraft.
Hywel Williams: ..., and actual world-leading programmes crashed because of fiscal circumstances—that was the real effect. However, as leading commentators have noted, the Chancellor managed to increase the UK’s defence budget, including finding money for nuclear weapons. Worryingly, the UK has pledged £720 million of UK exports finance to support an offshore liquid gas project in Mozambique, at the...
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Royal Saudi Air Force pilots (a) are currently training at RAF Valley and (b) have trained at RAF Valley annually in the last three years.
Hywel Williams: ...the last few months. However, I assure him that my pen is poised should the debate not elicit full and satisfactory answers. It is well over a year since I raised this matter with the Ministry of Defence and senior personnel at RAF Valley, but constituents continue to report frequent and unacceptable noise levels from the Texan T1 despite assurances that steps were being taken to equip the...
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what ratio of land to sea training is planned for the T6 Texan once the certification issues have been resolved.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Affinity/Ascent contract of 25 years, when during that contract he plans to review the choice of aircraft specified for the UK Military Flight Training System; and if he will make a statement.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the ratio is of day to night flying of the T6 Texan II based at RAF Valley.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department made of the suitability of the Texan T1 for operations from RAF Y Fali prior to the transfer of basic flying training to Y Fali from Linton-on-Ouse.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he became aware of the certification issues with the Texan T1 training aircraft; and whether an assessment was made of the potential merits of purchasing an alternative aircraft.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his letter of 7 December 2020, reference MSU/4/6/2/1/ap, what progress has been made on the acquisition of new harnesses, life jackets and life rafts which would enable the Texan aircraft to operate over seas; and if he will make a statement.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the size of the fleet of (a) Texan T1 and (b) Tucano was in each RAF training ground in each year since 2017.