Army not equipped for Iraq war

Most major Army equipment, from tanks to rifles and radios to boots, failed alarmingly in a major desert exercise last year and the UK would be hard put to make a serious contribution to any operation against Iraq, a major report says today.

The National Audit Office report into Exercise Saif Sareea II, the biggest deployment by the Army since Operation Desert Storm in 1991, points to failures of the Challenger 2 tank, the AS90 howitzer, boots and medical and supply-handling equipment.

The tanks and guns could not deal with the fine dust of the Omani desert and temperatures of well over 38C (100F). The biggest weakness was the failure of many of the new Challenger 2 tanks after only a few hours. Two out of the five squadrons had to be withdrawn before the final exercise.

However, the Challenger 2s used by the Omani forces, the only country to buy them, had been fully "desertified" and performed well. The Ministry of Defence refused the extra £350,000 to buy the special desert sand filters and the resulting damage cost more than £2million to put right.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon was so worried about costs of the summer exercise with the Omani forces that at one point he is known to have considered cancelling it. And the Treasury tried to impose cuts.

The Army's new self-propelled gun, the AS90, suffered from heat with plastic filters melting in the sun. One caught fire and was written off at a cost of £1million.

The report highlighted enduring problems with the ageing Clansman radio system, which failed in the Falklands 20 years ago. It said the system must be ditched.

In Kosovo and Macedonia, soldiers used their own mobile phones for lack of personal radios, but there was no satellite cover for mobiles in the Omani desert. Shadow defence secretary Bernard Jenkin said he saw tank commanders communicating with hand signals when he visited the exercise.

New radios for the Bowman system are on the way, though the whole system will not be fully operational until the end of next year.

The Army's standard SA80 rifle suffered from sand and dust, as it did against Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard outside Kuwait 11 years ago.

The new SA80 A2 version has been introduced since. With a new system for oiling and maintenance, it proved difficult to handle for the Royal Marines in their recent operations against Al Qaeda in the extreme conditions of southern Afghanistan.

Many soldiers suffered from foot rot because their boots fell apart.

Many of the faults outlined by the NAO have been addressed. Defence has just been given an extra £1 billion a year under the new Government Spending Review, but there are concerns that the Army may not be ready if it is called to action in Iraq.

An MoD spokesman defended the equipment. "Overall, we are very pleased with the way our people and their equipment overcame the many challenges posed by the exercise."