Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) location and (b) operational status is of each of the 48 F-35 aircraft on order from Lockheed Martin.
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the through-life cost of the F-35 programme; and on what £/$ exchange rate that assumption is based over the lifetime of the programme.
Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost is per flying hour of operating the (a) Typhoon, (b) F-35, (c) C-130J Hercules, (d) A400M, (e) P-8 Poseidon and (f) Ch-47 Chinook.
Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) working and (b) complete F-35 engines does the Department own.
Jeremy Quin: The estimated costs of integrating ASRAAM, Paveway IV and SPEAR Cap 3 weapons onto the F-35 Lightning are as follows: ASRAAM: £47 million, Paveway IV: £103 million, SPEAR Cap 3: £170 million.
Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which facility will carry out depth maintenance of the UK's F-35 fleet.
Ben Wallace: The truth is that the right hon. Gentleman does not seem to understand defence procurement or how things are manufactured. For example, 15% to 20% of the global components for all 3,000 of the F-35 aircraft—the rear part of the aeroplane—are made in Lancashire. Many of the highly complex, highly expensive defence projects are a collaboration. Typhoon is often championed on both sides of...
James Heappey: If the right hon. Gentleman will indulge me, I will make some progress, not least because he has intervened quite a few times in the debate already, but I will come back to him, I promise. As I was saying, our defence spending will enable us to continue to meet our international obligations and remain a leader in NATO. Notably, we are one of 10 nations not just meeting but exceeding the...
John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department plans to decide on the number of Lightning II F-35 aircraft to order in addition to those aircraft already ordered.
Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether Israeli F-35 aircrafts, of which each plane includes a 15 per cent UK work share, are being used in the air strikes on Gaza; and what steps he has taken to determine whether planes being used in the air strikes in Gaza include UK components.
Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what contracts are in place with UK companies to support and maintain F-35.
Lord Tunnicliffe: My Lords, we welcome this first major deployment of the “Queen Elizabeth”. The “Queen Elizabeth” and the “Prince of Wales” are the most powerful surface ships ever constructed in Britain. They will strengthen our maritime forces for decades to come, and this maiden mission for the “Queen Elizabeth” is a great achievement for the Royal Navy and a proud moment for our country....
John Healey: I thank the Secretary of State for his statement and for the advance copy, and I add Labour’s condolences to the friends, family and comrades of the Indonesian submariners who tragically lost their lives in the service of their country this week. We welcome this first major deployment of the Queen Elizabeth, and pay tribute to all those involved who have made this possible. The Secretary of...
Lord Browne of Ladyton: My Lords, I declare my interest as vice-chair of and consultant to the Nuclear Threat Initiative. In the other place, Tobias Ellwood, anticipating the visit of General Austin, the US Secretary of Defense, said: “our special relationship requires work.” Predicting warm words about the special relationship and our planned investment in “special forces, cyber and space resilience,”—[...
Alex Sobel: Colleagues have rightly spoken about Saudi Arabia and the effects of arms sales on Yemen. I agree with the comments of my colleagues on restricting sales, but with time so short, I want to raise the role of the United Arab Emirates, which I do not want to be forgotten in this debate. The UAE has recently concentrated its efforts in southern Yemen and the island of Socotra, establishing a...
Stephen Morgan: I associate myself with the remarks and tributes made by the shadow Defence Secretary, the Minister and other Members of this House to the Duke of Edinburgh, who was a great friend of Portsmouth, the heart and home of the Royal Navy. Let me start by echoing the contributions from across the House that have recognised and honoured the continuing commitment and service of our armed forces....
James Heappey: The integration of our Armed Forces with those of our allies will be fundamental to retaining our global strategic advantage. Specifically, we are deepening levels of interoperability with Norway through collaboration on similar capabilities (such as P-8A Orion maritime patrol aircraft and F-35), our regular cold weather training deployments to Norway, bilateral capability talks and...
The following Statement was made in the House of Commons on Tuesday 23 March. “With permission, I should like to make a Statement on the future defence and security industrial strategy. Last November, the Prime Minister announced he was increasing spending on defence by £24 billion over the next four years. Last week, the Government published their conclusions from the integrated review,...
The following Statement was made in the House of Commons on Monday 22 March. “As a young officer, 30 years ago almost to the day, I was summoned to the drill square to have read aloud key decisions from the Government’s defence review at the time, Options for Change. We did not know it then, but the world was set for massive change. The fall of the Soviet Union, the rise of China, the...
Tobias Ellwood: It has been a busy week for defence, with the publication of the integrated review confirming Britain’s ambitions on the international stage and advancing our defence posture, and now we have today’s publication of the defence and security industrial strategy, which advances our procurement capabilities and supports UK industry. I cannot offer too much comment, however, because the...