Extracts from Westminster Hall debate on RAF Valley: Funding and Employment - Oct 14
Thursday, 15 October 2020 08:04
The Minister for Defence Procurement (Jeremy Quin):...RAF Valley
pilots are trained on the modern and sophisticated Texan and
updated Hawk T2 aircraft. Those are a great leap forward from the
platforms that they replace, with heads-up display that can
accurately simulate weapon attacks and other threats, which ensure
the maximum training benefit from every sortie. The Government
committed, in the 2015 strategic defence and security review to
increase the number of fast jet squadrons and,...Request free trial
The Minister for Defence Procurement ():...RAF Valley
pilots are trained on the modern and sophisticated Texan and
updated Hawk T2 aircraft. Those are a great leap forward from the
platforms that they replace, with heads-up display that can
accurately simulate weapon attacks and other threats, which ensure
the maximum training benefit from every sortie. The Government
committed, in the 2015 strategic defence and security review
to increase the number of fast jet squadrons and, thereby, pilots
to fly them, all of whom will be trained at the expanded training
system at RAF Valley, with more Texan aircraft coming on stream to
deliver the training. All levels of fast jet training at RAF Valley
are being complemented by advanced synthetic training that can
accurately replicate the complex and detailed realistic scenarios
that pilots need to train for...
...Set against the context of that positive background of new
assets who have moved to RAF Valley, of new roles created and
skills training being delivered, I shall now address the
understandable concerns that brought my hon. Friend the Member for
Ynys Môn to this debate, regarding the recent speculation around
the future of Hawk T1 maintenance and what that might mean for
those currently employed by one of our commercial partners, BAE
Systems. As she is aware, Hawk T1s are no longer used operationally
from RAF Valley. The remaining Hawk T1s used operationally are
based at RAF Leeming, at the royal naval air squadron at Culdrose,
and in Lincolnshire with the Red Arrows. While every capability is
subject to the current integrated review, the Red Arrows T1s are
expected to reach their out-of-service date in 2030 and the rest of
the fleet in 2027, as set out in the strategic defence and security review
2015...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
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