Posted on 08/02/2002 7:16:44 AM PDT by robowombat
London Daily Telegraph August 1, 2002 Pg. 1
Tanks, Guns And Boots All Failed Army In Desert
By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor
Only half of the British Army's main battle tanks were left operational during a major exercise in the Gulf last year when their engines became clogged with dust after a few hours in the desert.
Other equipment, from guns to boots, also failed to withstand the rigours of Operation Swift Sword - raising major questions over the Army's capacity to participate in a land assault against Iraq.
An investigation by the National Audit Office published today found that helicopters, self-propelled guns and heavy lifting vehicles all struggled in the heat and dust, while boots fell apart and the uniform was too hot.
"Given that the joint rapid reaction forces are intended to be able to operate anywhere in the world, it is a concern that the MoD does not hold sufficient stocks of desert combat suits to equip the Forces," says the report.
Bernard Jenkin, shadow defence secretary, said the report showed the need to "re-learn the lessons we forgot in the 10 years since the Gulf War". He added: "When I visited this exercise, I saw Clansman radio units piled up and useless. Tank commanders resorted to hand signals like in World War One."
But the Ministry of Defence called the exercise "a success". It said: "This was the first time that many new items of equipment had been tested in the desert under near-operational conditions.
"The key point of major exercises is that they allow us to identify the challenges our forces might face when actually operating in such testing conditions. We have made comprehensive arrangements for identifying lessons and, where necessary, we will make improvements to our equipment and procedures."
Swift Sword was the largest deployment of Britain's forces since the Gulf War in 1991. More than 22,500 personnel, 6,500 vehicles and trailers, 21 ships, 49 planes and 44 helicopters joined Omani forces for the exercise in September and October last year.
The most severe problems affected the 66 Challenger 2 main battle tanks, which would be expected to spearhead any armoured assault by British ground forces.
Crews found that the fine dust thrown up in the desert clogged the engine air filters so that they ground to a halt after four hours' service.
An extra 55 tons of spares were flown out to keep the tanks going, but two squadrons still had to be withdrawn and only three squadrons were able to take part in the final live-firing exercise.
By the end of March this year, one quarter of the tank fleet was still unavailable for operations and the NAO said the costs and timings of repairs could not yet be determined.
The NAO also found that problems with the Army's ageing Clansman radio system had become so severe that it was now judged to be "incapable" of operating in combat conditions. Unlike Kosovo - where troops resorted to using mobile phones instead of radios - there was no mobile phone cover in the Omani desert.
Unable to communicate by radio, tank crews frequently had to pull up in the middle of manoeuvres and check their orders with each other.
Another major piece of equipment - the mobile AS90 self-propelled gun - was rendered almost useless when plastic air filters melted in the heat, causing two guns to be withdrawn from the exercise.
The NAO said this was not a design fault since the original specifications called for thermal insulation. But these were changed when the gun came into service because it was expected to be used exclusively in Europe.
To keep the gun operational, engineers had to rig up makeshift aluminium heat shields, but they worked only when the guns were stationary and movements had to be restricted to night time. Even then, one gun caught fire and is likely to be written off at a cost of £1 million.
At least 10 helicopters were out of action at any one time as parts quickly became unserviceable. Rotor blades on the Lynx, which would last for 500 hours' flying time in European conditions, needed replacing after 27 hours.
Troops also experienced a recurrence of the problem of jamming with the SA80 rifle and there were not enough heavy duty fork-lift trucks because the contractors employed to maintain them were contracted to operate only in Britain and Germany.
Some of the Army's other utility vehicles were so old that the drivers had to turn the cab heaters on full blast to stop the engines overheating.
The shortage of desert combat suits and boots affected morale. Normal Army boots melted in temperatures which regularly went over 45C (113F).
Some troops bought their own rather than wear the standard issue. An Army post-exercise report spoke of foot rot being "a major issue".
the Ministry of Defence called the exercise "a success". It said: "This was the first time that many new items of equipment had been tested in the desert under near-operational conditions.
Other equipment, from guns to boots, also failed to withstand the rigours of Operation Swift Sword - raising major questions over the Army's capacity to participate in a land assault against Iraq.
Relentlessly damning
The military foot-rot is only indicative of nation-rot under socialism with it's stifling bureacracy and group-think.
Leni
Some Army desert boots went to war and failed to make it back in one piece
Source: Army Times; Published: June 17, 2002;
Authro: Matthew Cox and Gina Cavallaro
Of course, they do have to fix it...
Radical concept alert!
The state military is a socialist institution by definition. British need to bring spin experts from other countries. They do not have to bring government experts, probably many private spin doctors are looking for a job after Wall Street scandals.
This will improve the performance reports.
Sheesh, my cheap jungle-boot knockoffs work just fine at higher temperatures than that. That's ludicrous.
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