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| Afghanistan |
| Soldiers risking death because kit ordered two years ago never arrived |
| 2012-04-02 |
| The Ministry of Defence’s delays in delivering a new system to resupply remote bases in Afghanistan have led to accusations that troops’ lives are being put at unnecessary risk. Cuts in the defence budget have been blamed for the delay, with reports that the MoD lost several of the expert staff involved in the overdue “Urgent Operational Requirement”. The kit requested by commanders would allow the RAF to carry out precision air drops of supplies to forward operating bases in remote parts of Afghanistan. Without the ability to drop supplies from the air, some supplies have to be delivered by road, exposing supply convoys to the risk of attack and roadside bombs. At least four British personnel have died on such resupply missions in Afghanistan. Defence chiefs made an “urgent” request for a “Joint Precision Aerial Delivery System” in December 2009. The Daily Telegraph has seen a Ministry of Defence document showing the demand was approved as an “Urgent Operational Requirement” with a delivery deadline of January 2011. The UOR system is meant to allow military commanders to fastrack vital kit through the notoriously bureaucratic defence procurement regime. The MoD says UORS “provide the fast equipment solutions that ever-changing operations demand”. The MoD document, marked “Restricted” and dated 24 May 2010, is headed “Approval note for UOR AO1527 – Joint Precision Aerial Delivery System” It shows that the Treasury had given the go-ahead for the urgent purchase of an airdrop system at an annual cost of £9.8 million. The document also shows that the technology was expected to be in operational use by January 2011. However, the system is still not in place, leading to warnings that troops are being exposed to additional risk as a result. The delay was discovered by Stephen Barclay, a Conservative member of the Commons Public Accounts Committee and former soldier. “It is a matter of great concern that this capability has not yet been delivered. Troops’ lives are at risk on resupplied convoys, so this is not just about pounds, shillings and pence. The MoD needs to provide a proper explanation of this delay.” In 2009, two British soldiers were killed and seventeen injured when the vehicles they were travelling in as part of a resupply convoy were blown up by IEDs planted on road. Two soldiers also died in 2007 on a resupply mission. It is also understood that a significant number of service personnel have suffered serious injuries – including some who lost limbs – on supply convoys. In evidence to the committee, the MoD admitted that the airdrop programme has been delayed, but denied that the loss of skilled personnel had been a factor. The MoD said: “The reason why there has been a delay with the programme has not been because of manpower, but because the route for trying to obtain this capability was initially going to be by buying the capability commercially. “It was concluded in the end that we would not be able to get it into service quickly enough through the process of trials, and so a different route has been gone down, obtaining it by a different methodology.” |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 For number 2 all of them should be in jail! |
| Posted by: Albert Grundy9503 2012-04-02 13:50 |
| #2 > the notoriously bureaucratic defence procurement regime. bureaucratic is a byword for corruption and rent-seeking. People seeking to subvert procurement should be tried with treason. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2012-04-02 05:55 |
| #1 Some things never change |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-04-02 00:56 |