MOD Responds to Newspaper Allegations Over Shortages of Army Equipment

UK Ministry of Defence, The Ministry of Defence has responded to a newspaper article published today, Sunday 6 May 2007, which claims an internal MOD report shows the Army is suffering from shortages of equipment. 
 
The newspaper article founds its claims on an apparently leaked copy of a quarterly report from the equipment branch at the Army’s Land command near Salisbury, which provides relevant Army personnel with an update on current equipment issues and the progress being made on addressing them. 
 
This particular report, in its entirety, is balanced and generally positive in its summary of the provision of equipment, particularly to the UK forces on overseas operations. 
 
This report confirms that the Army is well equipped on operations and that equipment for training is becoming more plentiful. It clearly demonstrates that priority has been given to providing world-class equipment for the Army on operations and to those who are training for operations. Others in the Army sometimes do not have the latest equipment, because they do not need it. 
 
The report's author, Assistant Chief of Staff for Equipment at Land Command, Brigadier Simon Levey, said: 
 
“Forces on operations are well equipped. We have a shortage of equipment for training for two reasons: firstly, because we are focusing on operations, and that is how it should be; and secondly because we are continually improving our equipment – to do this it has to be temporarily removed from service while it is being upgraded.” 
 
While the overall report is positive, it is candid about problems that remain, particularly the provision of equipment for training. Everything that can be done to improve availability of equipment is being done, and as the report states, the delay in this provision is in part due to the capacity of industry, which is nonetheless striving to improve the amount of equipment available for training purposes. Indeed the report says that equipment for training is becoming more plentiful. 
 
The report – an internal document which is intended to give Army commanders a snapshot of progress on equipment issues – is six weeks’ old and further progress has been made since it was written. 
 
The newspaper report highlights some of the more negative points in the report, including: 
 
– LAND’s cupboard is bare. This simply means that LAND Command is not holding any equipment centrally. Everything we have has been distributed for operations and training. 
 
– There are critical shortfalls in MASTIFF / VECTOR / BULLDOG / Challenger 2 spares. As might be expected, our priority is to ensure that forces are well-equipped for operations. The Mastiff armoured patrol vehicle was procured and deployed to Iraq in just six months once the need was identified. In some cases this may mean that there is not as much equipment available for training as we would ideally like. In some cases it is simply a question of how quickly industry can produce more. 
 
– CVRT spares. Industry is fully engaged in meeting the spares requirement and improving reliability. Measures are also being taken to improve crew comfort and safety. 
 
– There is a BOWMAN repairs backlog. Since the document was compiled, the repair schedule has run well ahead of our expectations. The Vehicle User Data Terminals are being returned at a rate of 90 a month compared to our predictions of 25 a month. Fit HF and VHF radios are now available in sufficient numbers to meet all known demands. The operational repair pool has been uplifted, increasing the availability of equipment for operations. 
 
– A shortage of Landrovers. This reflects the need for greater numbers as the BOWMAN radio system is introduced – itself a significant enhancement to capability. To manage this MOD will run on the Defender Landrovers and a programme is being put in place to recondition these vehicles. The Operational Utility Vehicle System (OUVS) programme is the procurement programme which will replace the RB44, Pinzgauer and Landrover capability.