Army equipment not ready for desert rigours
Essential British Army equipment is unable to stand the rigours of desert warfare, says the Whitehall performance watchdog.
The findings come in a report by the National Audit Office on last year's Saif Sareea II exercise in Oman
It found that helicopters, self-propelled guns and heavy lifting vehicles all struggled in the heat and dust, while boots simply fell apart.
The most severe problems during Saif Sareea were with the Challenger 2 tanks which would be expected to spearhead any armoured assault by British ground forces.
Crews quickly found that the fine dust thrown up by the desert clogged up the tanks' air filters so that they ground to a halt after just four hours service.
An extra 55 tons of spares were flown out in an attempt to keep the tanks going but two squadrons still had to be withdrawn and only three squadrons were able to take part in the final live firing exercise.
The NAO found that the problems with the Army's ageing Clansman radio system had become so severe that it was now judged to be "incapable" of operating in combat conditions.
Unlike Kosovo - where troops resorted to using mobile phones instead of radios - there was no mobile phone cover in the Omani desert.
As a result tank crews frequently had to pull up in the middle of manoeuvres and get out to check their orders with each other because they were unable to communicate by radio.
The leader of the NAO report team, David Clarke, said: "Stopping a brigade of tanks and getting them into a huddle is not the best way to operate."
