6.3 |
Military equipment (pre-conflict)
300.
To conduct
those operations, 16 Air Assault Brigade would need to be
deployed
and ready
in Kuwait by the beginning of March and 7 Armoured Brigade by
mid-March.
For the
northern option, the UK had been planning for ground combat
operations
beginning
in mid-April.
301.
The
implications for equipping three combat brigades and the plans
for
earlier
operations were not explicitly acknowledged until late
January.
302.
Ministers
were advised that there were “no showstoppers”, but there is
no
record of
formal advice on how the military had defined that term or the
level of
risk it
entailed.
303.
Following his
statement on 20 January, Mr Hoon was asked by
Mr Bernard Jenkin
for an
assurance that troops were “fully trained and fully equipped for
whatever they may
be asked to
do”.
“As for
preparations, I do not doubt that our forces are fully and
thoroughly prepared
to face
this kind of operation. Indeed, the training exercise conducted in
similar
conditions
in Oman just over a year ago was obvious preparation for this
kind
of deployment.”
305.
Lord Bach
announced the composition and deployment of the UK’s land
force
package in
the House of Lords on 20 January.145
306.
Asked whether
the Challenger 2 tanks had now been desertised, if the
lessons
from Saif
Sareea had been rectified, and if there was sufficient desert
clothing for troops
to be
deployed, Lord Bach replied:
“As regards
Challenger 2 and AS90 … work is being carried out now to
ensure
that they
are desertised sufficiently. That work is ongoing and will continue
when
forces are
in transit and in theatre as required. I give the noble Lord the
assurance
he seeks as
regards clothing … We continue to work to ensure that our
personnel
are
properly equipped to cope with the environmental conditions in
which they
may operate.”
307.
Pressed by
Lord Elton for reassurance that “the work now being done will
be
completed
before there is any question of any armoured vehicle moving in the
desert –
that they
will be desertised before they are deployed”, Lord Bach replied:
“Of course the
vehicles
will be desertised by the time they are deployed.”146
145
House of
Lords, Official
Report,
20 January 2003, columns 492-497.
146
House of
Lords, Official
Report,
20 January 2003, columns 499-500.
45