The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
591.
In explaining
the justification for the requirement and the inadequacies of
existing
equipment,
the points made by Lt Gen Houghton included
that:
•
“EC advice
suggests that we have reached the engineering and
technological
limits of
the physical protection that can be provided by Snatch and other
light
weight
PPVs.”
•
“ … Defence
has a moral responsibility towards our servicemen to ensure
we
have done
everything that is reasonable to minimise loss to life and
ensure
operational
success; there is still some way to go before that assurance
can
be offered.”
•
“ … [T]he
public, political and media expectation is that military operations
can
now be
conducted without significant casualties”.
•
“A MPPV is
needed in order to provide significantly enhanced physical
protection
against
IEDs (incl EFP) and RPGs … to prosecute the mission
successfully
without
unnecessary casualties.”
•
“Every
effort should be made to enhance force protection measures –
perversely
this may
mean that as troop numbers go down, PPV numbers remain
broadly
similar,
thereby affording greater levels of protection to a larger part of
the
deployed
TELIC force.”
•
“ … [O]nly
a balanced force will give the operational commander the
optimum
flexibility
to meet the range of tasks based on an assessment of threat and
risk.”
•
“ …
[H]elicopters are already in short supply and it is highly unlikely
that
additional
aircraft will be available to meet the increased demand without
severe
impact on
JHC [Joint Helicopter Command] ability to sustain the current
and
emerging
operational requirements.”
•
“Snatch is
no longer fit for purpose as a light weight PPV and the
increased
threat
requires a MPPV.”
592.
When the
Inquiry asked Lord Drayson why he had found it necessary to
ask
Lt Gen Houghton
for confirmation that there was a requirement for a medium
weight
PPV, Lord
Drayson wrote in his statement:
“It was
necessary because I had become concerned about the growing
casualties
to
personnel travelling in Snatch from IEDs in Iraq. The military had
identified
a
requirement for a new light PPV for HERRICK (Afghanistan) which had
been
approved
via the core equipment programme by PJHQ in March 2006 (the
Vector
vehicle)
but no requirement had been identified for Iraq. I wrote to CJO to
force the
issue. The
push to procure a medium weight PPV in time for the Nov 06
roulement
of forces
came from Ministers.”306
306
Statement,
18 January 2011, page 6.
98