£700m Of Armoured Vehicles For British Troops

A multi-million pound investment has been announced by Defence Secretary John Hutton for extra vehicles that would improve the safety and protection of British troops in Afghanistan.

The £700 million would mean a further 700 new and upgraded vehicles that would provide the "best practical protection" against the "developing threats" they faced.

The Protected Mobility Package announced by Mr Hutton today, includes provision of £350 million for 400 brand new armoured support trucks which will be used to accompany patrols and carry essential supplies such as water and ammunition.

The 400 trucks include heavy, medium and light armoured vehicles, these include Wolfhound, Husky and Coyote models. They will carry out a range of tasks from field ambulances to ammunition supply for the Royal Artillery.

More than 100 new, larger and more heavily armoured tracked vehicles, will replace Vikings in Afghanistan, and over 100 Jackals - the extremely agile all-terrain vehicles which include high-levels of off road mobility and firepower - have been pledged by the Ministry of Defence.

Gordon Brown announced the investment programme during Commons question time.

He said: "I believe one of the issues in Afghanistan that we have had to deal with is the provision of properly protected vehicles for our Armed Forces.

"In face of these new and developing threats this will mean that our Armed Forces have the best practical protection for the work that they do."

Today's announcement, builds on previous measures that are already being used in Iraq and Afghanistan - the successful Mastiff with its superior levels of protection, the Jackal with its impressive firepower, speed allowing troops to get off the tracks and roads and strike hard at the enemy from all directions.

Mastiff's smaller brother - Ridgback - due to arrive on operations early in the new year will add to this and deliver protection levels close to that of Mastiff in a package that gives better access to urban areas, increasing the survivability of troops in these roles.

£500 million of the funding for the Protected Mobility Package has been allocated from the Treasury Reserve while Defence will fund a part of the package in acknowledgement of the longer term benefit to core defence capability these vehicles offer beyond our current commitments.

(JM)