saxon
Posted on 10/16/2005 7:04:08 AM PDT by Flavius
The war in Iraq has rendered hundreds of the Army's combat vehicles unfit for operational service.
The Ministry of Defence's own figures show that more than 50 per cent of its ageing combat reconnaissance vehicles - which were first used in the 1960s - are not fit for service because of mechanical problems.
The figures also reveal that less than 50 per cent of the Army's 328 Scimitar combat reconnaissance vehicles, which are used by the Household Cavalry and have seen service in both Iraq wars, the Falklands and Bosnia, are in working order. Alarmingly, because of mechanical failure, only just over half of the Army's Samaritan armoured ambulances could be deployed on operations.
In the worst cases, those units equipped with the Sturgeon and Salamander version of the combat reconnaissance vehicle, which is used in training in an anti-tank role, had none in working order.
The figures also show that of the Army's 622 Saxon vehicles - the military's only armoured, wheeled troop-transporter - only 169 are working. Altogether only 1,483 of the Army's 3,340 combat reconnaissance class vehicle s are in working order.
In November 2003, The Sunday Telegraph revealed that half of the Army's tank corps had been crippled by the war in Iraq.
Figures released by the Government showed that whole armoured regiments had been stopped in their tracks by mechanical failure of Challenger tanks and Warrior armoured personnel carriers.
The latest set of figures emerged in response to Parliamentary questions from Ann Winterton, the Tory MP for Congleton, Cheshire, to Adam Ingram, the Armed Forces minister.
Mrs Winterton said: "The information gained from this series of questions is devastating. Questions need to be asked of the Secretary of State for Defence as to why this situation has been allowed to occur. It looks to me that the facade that is presented to the British people that the country has a sound defence has been shattered into a thousand pieces."
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: "All our vehicle fleets require regular maintenance and for this reason it is MoD policy not to have all of its vehicles marked as being 'available' to the front line, when not deployed on operations.
"Our maintenance programmes are sufficiently flexible to ensure that we can meet increased demands for vehicles from front-line commands to meet operational need."
saxon
Samaritan
The war in Iraq has rendered hundreds of the Army's combat vehicles unfit for operational service.
I'd never have guessed. Thank goodness for xpertz.
It's a consevative paper.
Garage Sale!
No wonder Monty Python was such a hit.
"How's your Scimitar today 1st Sergeant?"I swear the Brits must have an official Funny Name Department
"Bloody awful sir, but my Salamander is fine."
"Excellent! What about the Sturgeon?"
"The Sturgeon"? Oh we had that for dinner."
"No you twit, I mean the vehicle!"
"Well it could use a good Samaritan as it was clobbered by a Saxon.
no luck..
Sturgeon?
i think thats Scimitar... but i've only beenp on my GB armor from this morning ... so i have no idea
Came up on Google images but sometimes the pix have the wrong label.
Is this guy bitching just to bitch or is he suggesting the Brits spend eleventy billion on new stuff?
To my knowledge sturgeon are the only living creature in Wisconsin that outnumber Packer Fans - well, maybe its a tie.
(kidding, slightly)
they are suppose to be good to eat... and there is the caviar thing...
but they are protected correcT?
They can sell them to Canada:)
The Liberal government has starved the UK defense budget for years to fund the socialist state. These armored vehicles could be fixed if there was more money for repairs.
Export-only variants include Scorpion 90, with a 90mm Belgian Cockerill AT gun, and various tweaked and rearmoured variants of Scorpion and Scimitar. A 120mm variant called Sturgeon is also in service with the Fantasian Armed Forces based in Alberta, Canada, as part of the OPFOR in BATUS. The ones in BATUS SALAMANDERS and are old SCORPIONS used in the TES phase in BATUS, just like a big game of lazer quest. Programmed to represent a T80 complete with AT 5 capabillity. Regularly whip the arse of visiting BG. STURGEON is the old SPARTAN MCT also TES ex phase and with capabillities of a BMP 3
Not sure how legit the source is...
We've caught (more like 'snagged') several of those critters--small ones. They're so ugly, they're scarey. Not quite as creepy as catching a water dog, though.
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