14.1  |  Military equipment (post-conflict)

332.  The minutes recorded that the £42m was insufficient to deliver the total fleet

requirement of 1,228 needed to support the deployment of PPVs worldwide.166

The 1,228 figure would have supported the deployment of 982 Snatch 2 and 246 Vector.

There was now only available funding for one of the following options:

• 512 vehicles (312 Snatch 2 and 200 Vector);

• 724 vehicles (624 Snatch 2 and 100 Vector); or

• 936 vehicles (936 Snatch 2 and no Vector).

333.  It was agreed that the Directorate of Joint Capability would confirm which option

should be pursued by 18 February.

334.  The Specialist Utility Vehicle IPT stated that in order to deliver 100 Vector

vehicles by June 2006, the solution would need to be a commercial off‑the‑shelf option

and the business case needed to be submitted by July 2005, with the contract let by

October 2005.

335.  The group agreed Key User Requirements for the Vector vehicle and, the

Specialist Utility Vehicle IPT was tasked to identify all of the options that could meet

them. Those would be discussed at the next CIWG on 23 February.

336.  On 21 February, a revised PPV SOR was produced in light of the funding

levels agreed by the DMB, which was referred to in the SOR as a “45% cut” (see the

consideration of that figure in the Box, ‘Was there a 45% cut?’).167

337.  The SOR elaborated on the three options provided by the PPV Working Group:

• Option 1: Convert the remainder of Snatch to Snatch 2 – giving a total of 936

vehicles;

• Option 2: Convert 312 Snatch to Snatch 2 (in addition to the 312 already

undergoing conversion for Iraq) and procure approximately 100 Vector giving

a total of 624 Snatch 2 and 100 Vector – an overall total of 724 vehicles; or

• Option 3: Procure 200 Vector – giving a total of 312 Snatch 2 and 200 Vector.

338.  Option 2 was identified as the preferred option, with Vector vehicles to be delivered

by 1 June 2006.

339.  The paper stated that further examination of the funding was necessary to enable

a “sensible transition of the PPV fleet from its current to its future configuration” after the

Vector vehicles were delivered. Force Level Reviews “must re‑examine the current PPV

requirements for all theatres” once the actual fleet size was known. The exact number of

166  The minutes do not record the budget to which this figure refers but the Inquiry infers that it was to

cover the 1,236 Type A and Type B vehicles proposed in the SOR on 27 October. See the Box, ‘Was there

a 45 percent cut?’

167  Minute MOD [junior officer] to DINF Col FD, 21 February 2005, ‘Protected Patrol Vehicle (PPV)

Operational Requirement’.

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