Yahoo Finance Army needs new tanks to replace 'mobile coffins', say MPs
Army vehicles are "obsolete and sub-standard... mobile coffins”, MPs told defence chiefs as they grilled the Ministry of Defence about the troubled introduction of new armoured fighting vehicles.
The Defence select committee also heard that despite the shortcomings with the existing fleet, contracts worth billions for upgraded tanks, along with modernised or new armoured vehicles, were not guaranteed.
Jeremy Quin, the minister for defence procurement, said no decision had been made on a potential £500m deal by BAE Systems to put a new gun and computerised combat systems on the Army's 227 Challenger II tanks.
An upgrade by US defence giant Lockheed Martin to many of the 600 Warrior infantry fighting vehicles, which is running a year late and has so far cost £1.3bn, is in a similar position.
The MoD has also placed contracts with General Dynamics worth £5.5bn for 589 Ajax armoured vehicles, which are being produced in Wales. The first seven vehicles have been delivered to forces.
Another £2.6bn contract has been agreed with Anglo-German Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land for 508 of the eight-wheeled Boxer armoured vehicles, with work gearing up on a production plant near Telford.
However, Mr Quin said no decisions on the Challenger II and Warrior upgrades would be made before the forthcoming Integrated Review into foreign, security and defence policy is released.
He warned the review could see Ajax and Boxer cut or even abandoned, adding: “In theory every single capability is subject to the integrated review.”
The warnings came as committee chairman Tobias Ellwood labelled the Army’s primary fighting vehicles “obsolete”.
“It’s difficult to claim we have a legacy of respectable platforms,” he said. “You cannot allow our personnel to be placed on the battlefield in harm's way in equipment that is sub-standard compared to any peer they may be facing.”
Fellow committee member Richard Drax said another Army vehicle, the 432 Bulldog armoured personnel carrier, which has been in service for almost 60 years, was a “mobile coffin” in the face of increasingly advanced potential enemies.
Lieutenant General Chris Tickell, deputy chief of the General Staff, said money would be provided “later in this decade” for a replacement vehicle.
Mr Quin said the business case for Challenger and the investment approval committee for Warrior were both due before the end of the year, but that both were subject to the Integrated Review.
