The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
3.
The Armed
Forces’ capacity to deploy and sustain expeditionary
operations
was
determined by decisions in the 1998 Strategic
Defence Review.
4.
Defence
Planning Assumptions (DPAs) were developed by the MOD to convert
policy
into
detailed guidance that could be used by military
planners.1
They
outline the levels
of activity
the Armed Forces plan to be able to undertake, and the contexts in
which
they are
expected to operate. They are used to identify and resource the
planned force
structure,
capabilities and equipment of the Armed Forces.
5.
The DPAs
extant in 2002‑2003 were those defined in the 1998 Strategic
Defence
Review
(SDR 98). It
identified eight Missions
which the
Armed Forces could be
expected to
undertake, which were further divided into 28 Military
Tasks. The
Planning
Assumptions
defined the required level of forces, or scale
of effort, allocated
to each
Military
Task.
6.
In relation to
the ability to deploy forces to deal with overseas crises, SDR 98
stated
that the
objective was to “be able to make a reasonable contribution to
multi-national
operations”
in support of the UK’s “foreign and security policy objectives”. On
that basis
“broad
benchmarks” had been set for planning that the UK should be able
to:
“– respond
to a major international crisis which might require a military
effort and
combat
operations of a similar scale and duration to the Gulf War when we
deployed
an armoured
division, 26 major warships and over 80 combat
aircraft.
“or
“–
undertake a more extended overseas deployment on a lesser scale (as
over the
last few
years in Bosnia) while retaining the ability to mount a second
substantial
deployment
– which might involve a combat brigade and appropriate naval and
air
forces – if
this were made necessary by a second crisis. We would not,
however,
expect both
deployments to involve war fighting or to maintain them
simultaneously
for longer
than six months.”2
7.
SDR 98
determined that the UK’s land forces should include two
“deployable
divisions”
and six deployable brigades, three “armoured” and three
“mechanised”,
together
with two “lighter and more specialised deployable brigades, an
airmobile
brigade and
the Royal Marine Commando Brigade”.3
1
Ministry of
Defence, Strategic
Defence Review, July
1998.
2
Ministry of
Defence, Strategic
Defence Review, July 1998,
page 23.
3
Ministry of
Defence, Strategic
Defence Review: Supporting Essays, July 1998.
Supporting Essay 6,
Future
Military Capabilities.
176