Yankee Poodle Tony’s Government The British The Blair Government has sold off 4½ million pounds worth of armoured personnel carriers for £44,000 including four to American mercenary firm Blackwater. British Ministers claimed that adaptations made to the Mamba Mine Protected Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), which if you follow the chain of ownership is manufactured by a BAE (British Aerospace) subsidiary, made it unsuitable for its use in Iraq which included the transportation of bomb disposal teams, and too difficult to maintain. The ministers appear to be being more than somewhat “economical with the actualité.” The American mercenary firm that bought them for the princely sum of £2,933.33 apiece describes them as “the armoured personnel carrier of choice for Blackwater ops in Iraq” and clearly don’t have any problem maintaining them as they’re in daily use on Route Irish - “the most dangerous road in the world.” The British newspaper Scotland on Sunday first broke the story last Sunday and has an even more damning follow-up today.

“Troops risk their lives in Land Rovers while MoD sells off armoured vehicles
Scotland On Sunday Sun 27 Aug 2006 BRIAN BRADY AND NIGEL GREEN

A FLEET of armoured vehicles has been sold abroad for just £44,000 despite the ongoing scandal of British troops forced to patrol war zones in thin-skinned Land Rovers.

The MoD sanctioned the sale of 14 mine-protected Mamba vehicles, which originally cost £4.5m, after an expensive revamp left them “too heavy” to go on patrol.

Some “Back of An Envelope” Calculations

Original Cost
4,500,000.00
Cost of Replacement
50,000,000.00
Total Cost
54,500,000.00
Realised From Sale
44,000.00
Net Cost to UK taxpayer*
54,456,000.00

* All figures above are Pounds Sterling. At mid-market rates for September 3rd 2006 quoted by xe.com 54,456,000.00 GBP = 103,777,108.66 USD. This is a “worst case” calculation as I have not included a figure for depreciation. (I don’t know what depreciation ratio (or method) the MoD use. A depreciation in the order of 20% seems reasonable. I’m sure you’re well capable of firing up Excel and plugging in the figures for yourself.) Nor have I included as a cost the administrative overhead for the sale of the APCs (a further loss) - mfi

The financial loss to taxpayers is another embarrassment for the MoD but far more serious is the suggestion it could have put the lives of British troops at even greater risk.

At least 20 soldiers have been killed in attacks on lightly protected Land Rover patrol vehicles in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and there have been widespread complaints that UK forces are not getting enough protection.

[snip]

Defence Secretary Des Browne was forced to rush an order of new armoured vehicles for British troops last month after attacks on the Land Rovers. Experts claimed the vehicles were unsuitable for service in war zones where they would be routinely attacked with roadside bombs.

The MoD has also been heavily criticised by MPs for failing to provide enough armoured personnel carriers despite the increased terrorist threat in Basra. A report by the House of Commons Defence Select Committee claimed lives were being put at risk by the shortage of equipment and soldiers were left overstretched.

Those killed by roadside bombs while patrolling in Land Rovers in Iraq include Fusilier Gordon Gentle, aged 19, from Glasgow, who died in June last year. [His mother is standing for election to parliament , the British MoD has made several attempts to “gag” her, she’s also one of the parents taking legal action to force an enquiry into the Blair government’s decision to go to war.- mfi]

After an urgent review of security, the MoD is now spending £50m on 100 US-made Cougar armoured vehicles, although they will not be ready for another six months. … … …

[snip]

The department stumbled into problems after it took delivery of the Mambas to support operations in the Balkans in the late 1990s. The vehicles, delivered in three batches, were urgently required by specialist teams for explosive ordnance disposal tasks including reconnaissance, and rescue and recovery as part of Nato-backed operations in Bosnia, Macedonia and Kosovo.

Commentary

[ In other words the MoD didn’t bother to insist that the manufacturer standardise the adaptations and didn’t bother to insist that the manufacturers keep an inventory of spare parts - mfi

What “road safety issues“? I’ve ridden in the damn things including in post-adaptation models and they’re solid as a rock.

As to “restricted to operational situations where there was a significant threat of mine strikes” amazingly enough when you’re transporting bomb disposal officers it’s often in areas where there is a “significant threat of mine strikes” - that’s what the mamba and its replacements are built to do. But don’t take my word for it here’s what the manufacturer has to say:
“Conceived to protect multi-role forces operating in a mine-threatened environment, the Mamba mine-protected APC and its variants offer high degrees of ballistic and mine protection, coupled with excellent mobility and manoeuvrability.”

For once that’s no more than the unvarnished truth. A lot of the Mamba’s protection is from it’s V-shape hull which is quite effective in protecting you from the blast of anti-tank mines by deflecting the main force of the blast.- mfi.

But, in order to meet the demands of commanders in the field, the vehicles had to be modified with the addition of ‘belly armour’ to withstand attack by shaped-charge mines.

Armed forces minister Adam Ingram has now revealed that the alterations had drastically affected the vehicles’ operational capabilities. “The extra weight of the… armour was found to overload the Mambas and caused reliability and safety problems,” he said. “The high level of maintenance required to keep the vehicles operational was exacerbated by a lack of commonality between the individual vehicles and poor availability of spares.

“In May 2001, due to road safety issues, their use was restricted to operational situations where there was a significant threat of mine strikes.”

The MoD considered modifying and refurbishing the vehicles a second time, “but replacement with a new vehicle was identified as the better option”. As a result, the vehicles have been sold off for a total of £44,000, with nine going to Estonia, four to a US company and one to a company based in Singapore.

It emerged yesterday that British troops in Iraq are still having to risk their lives patrolling in flimsy Land Rovers, despite 18 soldiers having been killed there by roadside bombs.

Soldiers are particularly at risk from projectiles which are designed to fire a football-sized chunk of metal at one mile per second. The projectiles are easily powerful enough to punch straight through a lightly armoured Land Rover. “

Scotland on Sunday published this follow-up story today:

“Armoured cars sold on cheap save lives in Iraq
 Scotland On Sunday Sun 03 Sep 2006 BRIAN BRADY WESTMINSTER EDITOR

PERSONNEL from an American private security company are riding round Iraq protected by heavily armoured vehicles originally bought with millions of pounds of British taxpayers’ money.

Scotland on Sunday revealed last week that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had sold a multimillion-pound fleet of Mamba mine-protected vehicles for a pittance, after an expensive revamp left them difficult to maintain - and “too heavy” to go on patrol.

[snip]

The vulnerability of the soft-skinned ’snatch’ Land Rovers traditionally used by British forces has been blamed for the deaths of more than 20 soldiers in roadside bomb attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan over recent months. [See here, and here. Somebody is being economical with the truth and profligate with soldiers lives and taxpayers money - mfi]

The MoD protested last week that the Mambas, sold for less than a hundredth of the £4.5m they cost taxpayers, were unsuitable for perilous patrolling duties on the streets of Iraq.

But at least four of the vehicles are now carrying out routine patrol and transport for VIP visitors on a highway described as “the most dangerous road in the world” - between Baghdad Airport and the city centre.

[snip]

“These two guys from the Tern Hill base were killed because they were travelling round in clapped-out old Land Rovers designed for nice tarmacked roads in Northern Ireland,” he said last night. “It is ludicrous that heavily armed vehicles were available and used quite happily in the Balkans, but were sold off when there was still a job to do.”

The vehicles were sold off in 2004 for a total of £44,000, with nine going to Estonia, four to US company Blackwater Security Consulting and one to a company based in Singapore.

The American firm, which describes the Mamba as “the armoured personnel carrier of choice for Blackwater ops in Iraq”, clearly has little problem maintaining the vehicles. It uses the Mambas to transport diplomats, VIPs and US State Department officials along the most dangerous stretch of road in Iraq - the six-mile ’shooting gallery’ of snipers, car bombers and mayhem, otherwise known as the route from Baghdad International Airport to the Green Zone in the city centre.

Convoys are frequently ambushed and the Blackwater Mambas have been targeted by roadside bombers on at least two occasions. Each time, the crew and passengers emerged unscathed.

At least one British soldier has been killed while being transported to the airport in a ’snatch’ Land Rover.

Richard North, who has been waging a campaign to expose the “scandal” of the Mambas deal, said: “It is a cruel irony that vehicles that were not good enough for ‘our boys’ are routinely saving American lives in one of the world’s most hostile environments, carrying them to and from the airport.” “

Cruel irony and “not good good enough for ‘our boys’ ” is an understatement. I have no idea why any British reporter would put the word scandal in inverted comments as Brian Brady has done in today’s story. A scandal is exactly what it is. It is scandalous that both ordinary soldiers and bomb disposal specialists should be exposed to yet further danger while a pack of dirty mercenaries should be laughing all the way to the bank.

markfromireland