Britain's Ministry of Defense could sustain its poor leadership at the cost of the lives of British soldiers, says former procurement chief.
29 Kasım 2008 Cumartesi 01:51
The former MoD procurement minister Bill Kincaid said the troops' urgent pleas for reliable equipment would get lost in the department's entangled web of bureaucracy before being addressed.
In his book, The Dinosaur's Spots - The Battle To Reform UK Defense Acquisition, Kincaid claimed that the institutional inertia, the MoD had lapsed into, accounted for belated delivery of weaponry to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Kincaid, also a former brigadier, noted that the department was willing to save 'a relatively small sum of money' while downgrading the possible casualties that could result from this.
Either construction, provision, replacement or reparation of the Fres (Future Rapid Effects System) armored vehicles, Chinook Mk3 helicopters, Nimrod MRA4 maritime reconnaissance aircraft, Astute submarine, Type 45 destroyer and other military equipment has so far been decided against.
The book concludes that the MoD might adopt a better approach on the issue only after a 'major defeat' while advising the authorities to shift their focus from the 'accountants' to the realities on the ground.
The defense officials call the claims 'outdated, sensational, nonsense' amid reports to the contrary that say the MoD has considerably improved its procurement processes.
Paul Smyth, an operations manager at the acknowledged British defense think tank, the Royal United Services Institute, which published the book claimed the authorities were aware of the inefficiencies.
He told the Press TV correspondent in London Uzma Hussain that "if you look back historically, there have been mistakes, but it (the MoD) is trying to learn a lesson from those and to make adjustments and it continues to do so whilst using the 'urgent operational requirement process' to rapidly get capability on the ground to people."
The defense officials have, meanwhile, asked for an extra $5.6 billion to cover the zooming costs of the country's 'war on terror' in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Britain has lost 126 troopers in Iraq and Afghanistan since October 2001 when it started its operations in the war-hit countries.
The former MoD procurement minister Bill Kincaid said the troops' urgent pleas for reliable equipment would get lost in the department's entangled web of bureaucracy before being addressed. 
