Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the composition of the Cougar deployment is; and what its mission is. [54758]

Nick Harvey MP; Minister of State for the Armed Forces[holding answer 9 May 2011]: Cougar is the 2011 deployment of the Response Force Task Group (RFTG) and is composed of HMS Albion, HMS Ocean, HMS Liverpool, HMS Sutherland, RFA Wave Knight, RFA Cardigan Bay, RFA Fort Rosalie and RFA Mounts Bay, together with embarked Royal Marine commandos and air assets comprising of five Lynx, seven Sea King and three Apache.

This long planned exercise will develop the RFTG through force generation and collective training, to demonstrate contingent capability and to develop relationships with regional partners in support of Defence objectives.