§ Mr. Wilson
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many Soviet Backfire aircraft have penetrated the United Kingdom air defence region since 1979;
(2) how many unidentified aircraft entered the United Kingdom air defence region in 1988; how many of these were (a) Soviet military aircraft, (b) non-Soviet military aircaft and (c) civil aircraft.
(3) in what year the Royal Air Force first intercepted a Soviet Backfire aircraft; and what was the approximate location of the interception;
(4) what was the average number of Soviet military aircraft intercepted per week by Royal Air Force aircraft in the United Kingdom defence regions in 1988; what are the trends in the level of activity since 1979; and what are the reasons for these trends;
(5) what was the average number of scrambles of Royal Air Force interceptor aircraft to locate and identify unidentified aircraft approaching the United Kingdom air defence region in 1988; and what proportion of these scrambles resulted in interception of an intruding aircaft.
§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
I refer the hon. Member to the answers given by my predecessor to him on 3 May 1988 at column384, and to the hon. Member for Western Isles (Mr. Macdonald) on 14 December 1987 at column 412. The average number of Soviet aircraft intercepted in the United Kingdom air defence region each week in 1988 was 2–3. Details of such interceptions, including numbers of scrambles and types of aircraft intercepted are classified. I am not prepared to speculate about the reasons for fluctuations in Soviet aircraft activity.