, Criticism of Force Protection
A newspaper claims that the Army's Force Protection, in particular the Snatch Land Rover, is inadequate. Safety of our personnel on operations is a prime concern. But there is no such thing as perfect protection; military operations are an inherently risky undertaking.
If our troops are to fulfil their mission in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, they will have to expose themselves to threats and dangers. Nor should we prescribe how our forces operate in the field; heavily armoured vehicles may offer better protection, but either be too large to reach difficult locations, or alienate local people and fuel sympathy for insurgents. We must leave it to commanders in the field to balance the risks as they see fit in order to achieve their mission.
Equipment alone is not the answer to force protection; a large enough bomb can destroy even the most heavily armoured vehicle. Broadly, only one third of effective force protection is derived from equipment while two thirds relies on the training, tactics and procedures of our forces. Training, tactics and procedures are kept under constant review by the Services and evolve to meet changing needs and threats.
It is our duty to ensure that the Services get the right equipment to do their job as safely as possible. They will get the tools they need, to give commanders the necessary range of options to fulfil their mission. Financial restraints are not the issue here – we have spent well over half a billion pounds on force protection equipment for Iraq and Afghanistan.
We would never pretend that past procurement decisions have been infallible. But we have the commitment and the mechanisms to identify problems exposed by operational experience, and respond rapidly and effectively to address them.
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