Post by cammy on Jul 5, 2009 11:33:39 GMT 1
Former army officers have today defended the decision to deploy Viking vehicles to southern Afghanistan as the Ministry of Defence began investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of a senior commander and a soldier.
Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe and Trooper Joshua Hammond were killed yesterday when their armoured Viking track vehicle was blown up by a "huge" bomb as their convoy was heading for Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.
The Viking cross-country vehicles are due to be replaced in Afghanistan by more than 100 new, larger and more heavily armoured tracked vehicles to be known as Warthogs, while a further 100 Jackal all-terrain vehicles will also be purchased.
As attention focused on the Vikings, former officers defended their use and suggested that military planners have been surprised by the size of the bombs and mines the Taliban now have in their arsenal.
"You have to remember that Vikings were deployed to fill a very specific function," said Amyas Godfrey, a former infantry officer and fellow of the Royal United Services Institute thinktank, referring to the bridges and canals of the "green zone" along the Helmand river.
The Viking is a tracked vehicle, unlike the heavier Mastiff armoured troop carrier. "You are sacrificing mobility for protection but mobility is itself a form of protection", said Godfrey.
He said even the Mastiff had been vulnerable to roadside bombs. Charles Heyman, a military consultant and former infantry officer, said it was impossible to judge decisions and the circumstances surrounding the colonel's death.
The MoD said the Warthogs will not be delivered until next year because they have to undergo trials and be fitted with British "subsystems".
The Viking was introduced into Afghanistan three years ago, but last year the MoD admitted it had reached the limit of how much it could be armoured following a number of deaths involving roadside bombs. It is due to be replaced by the new Warthog vehicle next year.
Announcing the move in the Commons in December, Gordon Brown said £150m would be spent buying the new tracked personnel carriers from Singapore. The Bronco, as it is called, will be converted into armoured, all-terrain vehicles and renamed Warthog. The carrier can travel through water and hold up to 14 troops.
Brown said at the time that the Warthog would provide "improved protection for our forces". In another move to counter the threat of roadside bombs, a new class of mine-clearing vehicles – including the Buffalo mine-protected vehicle – is also being developed. The army's Snatch Land Rovers, which have been particularly vulnerable to attack, are also to be upgraded to a new variant – Snatch Vixen – with more power and better protection.
The first of the new vehicles should be ready to be deployed by the end of next year.
There have been a number of deaths involving Viking armoured vehicles in Afghanistan. Last month, the Grimsby district coroner, Paul Kelly, praised the MoD for identifying a problem with the vehicle and taking steps to solve it after hearing that Trooper Robert Pearson, from the Queen's Royal Lancers regiment, was killed when driving a vehicle hit by an improvised explosive device in Helmand on 21 April last year.
In January, an inquest heard that armour to combat mines was being flown out to Afghanistan to be added to the military vehicles following the death of a Royal Marine.
The move came after Corporal Damian Mulvihill, of 40 Commando Royal Marines, was killed in an explosion while travelling in the front seat of a Viking on 20 February last year in Helmand. Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Teare, of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, told a hearing in Plymouth that the MoD expected all 50 vehicles being used in Afghanistan to be fitted with new armour after numerous "mine strikes" prompted urgent requests for the undercarriages to be reinforced. Teare said the Viking was initially designed to defend small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades and therefore most of the armour was on the top of the vehicle.
Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe and Trooper Joshua Hammond were killed yesterday when their armoured Viking track vehicle was blown up by a "huge" bomb as their convoy was heading for Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.
The Viking cross-country vehicles are due to be replaced in Afghanistan by more than 100 new, larger and more heavily armoured tracked vehicles to be known as Warthogs, while a further 100 Jackal all-terrain vehicles will also be purchased.
As attention focused on the Vikings, former officers defended their use and suggested that military planners have been surprised by the size of the bombs and mines the Taliban now have in their arsenal.
"You have to remember that Vikings were deployed to fill a very specific function," said Amyas Godfrey, a former infantry officer and fellow of the Royal United Services Institute thinktank, referring to the bridges and canals of the "green zone" along the Helmand river.
The Viking is a tracked vehicle, unlike the heavier Mastiff armoured troop carrier. "You are sacrificing mobility for protection but mobility is itself a form of protection", said Godfrey.
He said even the Mastiff had been vulnerable to roadside bombs. Charles Heyman, a military consultant and former infantry officer, said it was impossible to judge decisions and the circumstances surrounding the colonel's death.
The MoD said the Warthogs will not be delivered until next year because they have to undergo trials and be fitted with British "subsystems".
The Viking was introduced into Afghanistan three years ago, but last year the MoD admitted it had reached the limit of how much it could be armoured following a number of deaths involving roadside bombs. It is due to be replaced by the new Warthog vehicle next year.
Announcing the move in the Commons in December, Gordon Brown said £150m would be spent buying the new tracked personnel carriers from Singapore. The Bronco, as it is called, will be converted into armoured, all-terrain vehicles and renamed Warthog. The carrier can travel through water and hold up to 14 troops.
Brown said at the time that the Warthog would provide "improved protection for our forces". In another move to counter the threat of roadside bombs, a new class of mine-clearing vehicles – including the Buffalo mine-protected vehicle – is also being developed. The army's Snatch Land Rovers, which have been particularly vulnerable to attack, are also to be upgraded to a new variant – Snatch Vixen – with more power and better protection.
The first of the new vehicles should be ready to be deployed by the end of next year.
There have been a number of deaths involving Viking armoured vehicles in Afghanistan. Last month, the Grimsby district coroner, Paul Kelly, praised the MoD for identifying a problem with the vehicle and taking steps to solve it after hearing that Trooper Robert Pearson, from the Queen's Royal Lancers regiment, was killed when driving a vehicle hit by an improvised explosive device in Helmand on 21 April last year.
In January, an inquest heard that armour to combat mines was being flown out to Afghanistan to be added to the military vehicles following the death of a Royal Marine.
The move came after Corporal Damian Mulvihill, of 40 Commando Royal Marines, was killed in an explosion while travelling in the front seat of a Viking on 20 February last year in Helmand. Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Teare, of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, told a hearing in Plymouth that the MoD expected all 50 vehicles being used in Afghanistan to be fitted with new armour after numerous "mine strikes" prompted urgent requests for the undercarriages to be reinforced. Teare said the Viking was initially designed to defend small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades and therefore most of the armour was on the top of the vehicle.