Tag: Douglas Chapman

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-06-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much has been invested on facilities at Faslane to support the Trident renewal programme in 2015-16.

Mr Philip Dunne

The infrastructure and facilities investments being made at the Barrow-in-Furness and Faslane sites are for all our submarines not just the Successor programme. I am withholding internal Ministry of Defence forecasts on future programme expenditure as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice on-going commercial negotiations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the insulation on coolant lines in the fuel tanks of UK F35B Lightning II fighters does not suffer decomposition.

Harriett Baldwin

The discovery of insulating material becoming detached from an avionics cooling line located in a fuel tank is not a design or technical issue, but a sub-contractor quality control issue that affects only a small subset of the 104 operational F-35As in the fleet. The UK is procuring the F-35B variant which is not affected by this issue. UK F-35 Initial Operating Capability is scheduled for December 2018 and remains on track.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) assets and (b) personnel of his Department took part in NATO Exercise Dragon 2015 in collaboration with the Polish armed forces.

Penny Mordaunt

Exercise Dragon 15 was a Polish-led multinational exercise involving up to 7,000 personnel and 900 combat vehicles at multiple training locations across Poland. The UK contribution to the exercise is a clear demonstration of the UK’s significant support to NATO’s Assurance Measures which are designed to reassure East European NATO members and deter aggression against them. Totalling approximately 1,350 Army personnel and around 400 vehicles, Exercise Dragon 15 constituted the largest UK armoured deployment in Eastern Europe in 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has undertaken a programme of independent penetration testing of the Autonomous Logistics Information System on board the F35B Lightning II fighter.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Autonomous Logistics Information System is part of the ground based information system and is not fitted on board the F-35B Lightning II fighter aircraft. Both the Autonomous Logistics Information System and the F-35B Lightning II fighter aircraft have been subject to a comprehensive independent programme of penetration testing.

Risk assessments of the Autonomous Logistics Information System and its interfaces with the F-35B Lightning II fighter are conducted continuously throughout the test programme. All classified data transmissions to and from the F-35B Lightning II fighter aircraft are fully encrypted.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) assets and (b) personnel of his Department took part in Exercise Platinum Lion in collaboration with the US, Romanian and Bulgarian armed forces.

Penny Mordaunt

40 personnel from 40 Commando Royal Marines took part in Exercise PLATINUM LION during July 2015. This was primarily an infantry skills exercise with no major assets deployed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what advisory notices of movements of nuclear material by road in Scotland his Department gives to (a) the Scottish Government and (b) Scottish local authorities in advance of any such movements.

Penny Mordaunt

The Scottish Government and local authorities are not given advance notice of movements that involve Defence nuclear material.

Police forces are always notified in advance of a convoy being routed through their area. Police may advise fire and rescue services of the presence of the convoy if it is moving into the vicinity of a fire service operation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2016 to Question 23339, how many former employees of his Department applied to serve in foreign militaries under the Business Appointments process in each of the last five years.

Mark Lancaster

Fewer than five former employees of the Ministry of Defence applied to serve in foreign militaries between 1 April 2011 and 2 February 2016. Due to the low numbers, the breakdown by year has not been provided.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place in the Library a copy of email MA/DGMAA to Min(DPWV) private office 3 Dec 13 16:32.

Mark Lancaster

I have placed the requested documents in the Library of the House.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the last three exercises were carried out under the Five Powers Defence Arrangements; and how many armed forces (a) personnel and (b) assets were used in each of those exercises.

Penny Mordaunt

The last three exercises carried out under the Five Powers Defence Arrangements were:

Exercise Suman Warrior 15 (27 July-6 August 2015). Eight UK Armed Forces personnel deployed on this exercise. No UK military ships or aircraft were deployed.

Exercise Bersama Shield (8 May – 18 May 2015). 21 UK Armed Forces personnel and one JSATO DA20 (Joint Services Air Tasking Organisation) aircraft were deployed on this exercise.

Exercise Bersama Lima (7-21 October 2014). 163 UK Armed Forces personnel and six Typhoon aircraft were deployed on this exercise.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to improve the stability of radar sensors in the F-35B Lightning II Fighter.

Mr Philip Dunne

The UK is fully involved in the development/test cycle for the F-35 radar sensors. As new functionality is added in line with the development schedule, there can be an initial reduction in software stability. Software fixes have been identified to improve stability and are planned to enter flight test during the next month. The development and performance of the radar remains on track to meet the UK’s planned Initial Operating Capability of December 2018.