SOUTH NORFOLK MP Richard Bacon has said that Britain’s Armed Forces are now so overstretched that they are forced to turn into ‘scavengers’ with some units deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan having to cannibalise equipment parts from others who are not.

Mr Bacon was speaking as the Commons public accounts committee published its report into military readiness. The report finds that overstretched units are relying on cannibalisation – where equipment parts are taken from a non-deployed vehicle or system in order to repair a deployed one – to increase equipment availability.

Mr Bacon, a member of the committee, said: “Cannibalisation of parts and equipment is neither new nor unique to the UK.  Indeed, US servicemen in Iraq have had to scavenge through Baghdad’s scrap yards to find metal for armour plating.  However, cannibalisation also decreases the pool of available vehicles and equipment and increases the wear and tear they are subjected to, shortening their useful life.  The MoD must establish at what point the level of cannibalisation will become unacceptable”.    

The report also finds that around 30 per cent of the UK’s Armed Forces reported serious weaknesses in their peacetime readiness levels.  This indicates that the UK’s ability to train and prepare its forces for new deployments has been severely impaired by the open-ended and unpredictable nature of current commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.  

Mr Bacon added: “30 per cent of the Armed Forces with weakness in their readiness levels would equate to over 60,000 servicemen and women not being fully ready to deploy – roughly equivalent in total to the crew of 18 aircraft carriers, a division of troops and over half of the Royal Air Force’s ground crew.  The MoD must discharge its duty to ensure that British forces are properly trained and equipped to deploy.  Events demanding their attention do not always announce themselves in advance”.  

28 February 2006