America's quick response to roadside bombs outstrips British action

Faced with a rising death toll from roadside bombs, the United States has sent almost 12,000 new combat vehicles to its frontline troops in just under two years. Britain has managed to deliver only 235, which is fewer than promised.

The difference in the efficiency and scale of the US and British response to this threat reveals a shortfall that is costing lives. It also exposes the lack of resources available to the Ministry of Defence. The British military deployment is, admittedly, only a fraction of the US commitment; Britain allocates 10 per cent of the defence budget to fighting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq whereas the US figure is about 40 per cent.

For Britain it is more a case of “stiff upper lip, let’s get through it”, according to one former US officer. By contrast, US spending to develop and deploy a bomb-proofed vehicle quickly to protect its troops was almost unlimited. “I always had every dollar I needed to go do the things that needed to be done to make the MRAP programme successful,” John Young, the US Under-Secretary of Defence for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, said this year.

He was referring to the mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicle that has been rolling off production lines in the United States since the spring of 2007 when it was designated a priority item for forces in Iraq who were suffering heavy casualties in their less well protected Humvees.

The Pentagon then delivered more than 11,700 vehicles across the US Central Command area of operations, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan, within 22 months. Iraq received 10,000 of these, but with the focus now shifting to Afghanistan, the US awarded a £650 million contract this week for 2,244 specially adapted MRAP vehicles for use in the country. The huge building programme was the Pentagon’s response to the heavy criticism that it endured in the early years of the Iraq campaign for the inadequacies of the more lightly armoured Humvee.

It took two or three years to put in place an efficient procurement programme to respond to commanders’ needs on the ground. However, once production was under way the speed of delivery was outstanding.

“It’s amazing, something that was done so quickly involving so many vehicles,” said the former US officer. “It was quite impressive. As soon as they [MRAPs] rolled off the production line they were shipped.”

As with the Humvees, Britain came under pressure to offer a better defence for its troops, who were dying in lightly armoured Snatch Land Rovers. The Government said last year that it had sent 108 Mastiff vehicles — the British equivalent of an MRAP — to frontline Forces and would deliver another 174 by “mid summer”. To date, however, only 127 have been received.

The Ministry of Defence admitted to “minor delays” on the delivery of Mastiff 2s, which comprised ambulance and enhanced communications vehicles. “This is due to the complex integration process required for these vehicles,” it said. “Deliveries will continue throughout the year.”

Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, feels that the Government is failing its military. “Why is it that other countries are able to give their armed forces what they need, when they need it and where they need it, but under the current Government we are unable to do the same?”