LONDON Ñ British artillery and tanks have been sidelined by the intense
heat of the Arab Peninsula.
A British government report confirmed assertions earlier this year by
Gulf defense sources that many of the British army's platforms failed to
operate in a month-long exercise in Oman. The report said British military
planners were taken by surprise by the heat and dust in the fall exercise in
the Omani desert.
The report by the National Audit Office, parliament's audit arm, is
expected to serve as a warning to British military planners who are drafting
scenarios for a U.S.-led war against Iraq. Gulf sources said any war against
Iraq would probably include a ground offensive.
In October, Britain and Oman held their Swift Sword-2 exercise, the
largest British military deployment in the region since the 1991 Gulf war.
In an exercise planned over three years, Britain contributed 22,000 troops
from the army, navy and airforce as well as nearly 110 fixed-wing and
rotor-wing aircraft and 6,500 tanks and vehicles.
The British report said the fine desert dust clogged the SA80 assault
rifle, Challenger-2 tanks and the AS-90 self-propelled artillery. The heat
limited the use of artillery and tanks to night operations.
In many cases, the advanced Challenger-2 was said to have broken down
after four hours. About half of the 66 tanks brought to Oman remained
operational. The report said British military chiefs, in an effort to cut
costs, refused to outfit the Challengers with special air filters suitable
and a protective covering to keep out sand.
"Complexities in the scoping, costing and funding of the exercise led,
however, to difficulties in planning," the report said. "Problems with the
Challenger-2 main battle tank had the biggest impact on the exercise in that
its need to be sustained with more than expected air filters, road wheels,
and track pads impacted on the supply of spares to other equipment."
British military planners misjudged the temperature and intensity of the
heat. The report said the Defence Ministry planned the $120 million exercise
as reaching temperatures of up to 39 degrees centigrade. Instead,
temperatures during the Omani exercise reached 55 degrees.
The result, the report said, was that British soldiers lacked special
combat suits and footwear for the desert. In many cases, army boots were
melting and food was rotting.
Still, the report said the exercise proved Britain's ability to deploy a
military force and send them to the Persian Gulf. But the report
acknowledged that many elements of rapid deployment Ñ such as rapid
planning and deployment, protection against unconventional weapons attack,
munitions, medical facilities and sufficient armor Ñ were not tested in the
exercise.
The report also cited breakdowns of the AS-90 artillery. The artillery
system was limited to nighttime operations and a speed of 25 kilometers per
hour to prevent overheating. Still, one artillery piece caught fire.
In contrast, the report said, such platforms as the C-17 strategic lift
aircraft, Warrior armored fighting vehicles, the C17 strategic lift aircraft
and tactical communications performed well during the exercise.
Infrastructure, such as telephone and mail services, also worked well.
The auditing office said that despite the numerous breakdowns Swift
Sword-2 proved the concept that the British military can quickly assembly
and deploy a significant force in the Persian Gulf. The report said the
exercise also advanced British interests in Oman, including the prospect of
additional arms sales.
"We found that the exercise successfully demonstrated key elements of
the Joint Rapid Reaction Forces concept," the report said. "The United
Kingdom projected and recovered, over a distance of 5,000 miles [8,200
kilometer], a medium-scale task force. While communications were stretched
in the austere environment, the command and control structure deployed on
the exercise worked."
"Overall, the exercise has shown that the United Kingdom is capable of
mounting a balanced, coherent force over a strategic distance," the report
said. "Amongst its allies, the United Kingdom is the only country, other
than the United States, that has demonstrated this."
