The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
892.
A later report
stated that Gazelle had subsequently been withdrawn from
theatre
because it
had “proved too vulnerable to ground attack”.471
893.
On 18
November, Mr David Williams, MOD Director of Capabilities,
Resources
and
Scrutiny, wrote to Mr John Dodds, Head of the Defence,
Diplomacy and Intelligence
Team in the
Treasury, seeking advice on how to take forward new force
protection
measures
within the agreed UOR “ceiling”.472
Mr Williams
flagged a new requirement
for £22m of
UOR funding for area surveillance. Mr Williams’ request for
the funding
of electronic
countermeasures is addressed earlier in this Section with regards
to
protected
mobility.
894.
Mr Williams
described the need for air surveillance assets as “effectively a
‘force
multiplier’
in that a greater effect could be achieved by cueing and focusing
fewer ground
assets than
by maintaining large bodies of troops in static guarding roles”.
The existing
arrangement,
whereby UK military personnel were guarding key sites within
MND(SE),
had
prevented troops from being employed in more “proactive, deterrent
or offensive
security
tasks” and raised more suspicion than would be the case with more
remote
surveillance,
such as helicopters and UAVs.
“The
potential solution to the requirement is to seek area surveillance
capabilities
since our
forces lack UK‑dedicated, persistent (in terms of time/duration
over the
areas/targets
we wish to watch) near real‑time and long‑range capabilities,
suited
to the
differing requirements in urban and rural areas, that can produce
pictures …”
896.
Mr Williams
stated that, to date, the MOD had deployed a combination of
assets
in its
inventory but only as an interim solution and this had not been
effective for urban
areas. In
addition, the interim systems would suffer in spring when the
weather became
hotter and
some aircraft would be required to return to Northern
Ireland.
897.
Mr Williams
wrote that this was being addressed by:
•
a
surveillance solution based on a UAV that would cost approximately
£10m
for which
three potential suppliers had been sent an Invitation To
Tender;
•
potentially
using Lynx helicopters with a surveillance pod for the
urban
requirement;
and
•
a manned
surveillance platform for the “pan‑Iraq” requirement.
898.
Further work
was being done to develop business cases for the latter two
options.
471
Report DOC,
22 February 2005, ‘Operation TELIC Lessons Study Volume
2’.
472
Letter
Williams to Dodds, 18 November 2003, ‘Additional Operation TELIC
UORs’.
152