Posted on 05/19/2011 5:59:35 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
Incompetent defence chiefs cost British forces their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan by squandering nearly £1billion on armoured vehicles that have not been built.
The Ministry of Defence wasted a shocking £718million on plans for thousands of properly-protected battlefield trucks which were then scrapped or delayed.
Procurement blunders meant UK troops were sent to warzones in lightly-armoured or soft-skinned vehicles - such as the controversial 'death trap' Snatch Land Rover - which were unsuitable against deadly roadside bombs.
The latest scandal emerged as the National Audit Office published a damning report today on military equipment procurement.
The country's top spending watchdog said Britain's Armed Forces faced a 'significant shortage' of armoured vehicles until at least 2025 - endangering soldiers.
This meant the UK's ability to carry out military operations, from delivering humanitarian relief to war-fighting, would be 'significantly restricted', said the NAO.
The report found that since 1998 the MoD had shelved or delayed programmes to build some 6,000 armoured vehicles, including tanks, reconnaissance and troop-carriers.
In one of the worst examples, the Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) project to build 3,000 utility vehicles was suspended in 2008 - nine years after it was drawn up.
In the same period, the MoD managed to procure fewer than 200 Titan, Trojan and Viking vehicles costing £407million through its standard acquisition programme.
...
Ross Campbell, the NAO's director of defence value-for-money, said: 'It is like a man at university who wants to get the next big thing in television sets.
'He waits until the wide-screen comes out, then he decides to wait to buy the plasma screen when it comes out, and then he waits for the high-definition screen.
'The trouble is, years down the line he's still watching the original black and white television set he had at university.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Thought this was about blog pimps or AM’s on Free Republic.
Disappointing.
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