By IRNA,
London : More than half of new Mastiff armoured vehicles sent to Afghanistan to protect British troops from roadside bombs are out of service, according to official figures from the Ministry of Defence.
Only 134 of 271 6 x 6 wheel-drive Mastiffs, the heaviest and most protective in a range of patrol vehicles were described as being “fit for purpose.”
Nearly 40 per cent of Ridgebacks, a lighter 4×4 patrol variant, were also not operational at present, the figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats further showed.
“The government says more Mastiffs and Ridgebacks are protecting our troops from roadside bombs but now we find only half of them are fit for purpose,” said the Liberal Democrat’s shadow defence minister Willie Rennie.
“These worrying figures undermine Labour’s claim that our troops have the armoured vehicles they need,” Rennie said, warning that the government must provide the equipment needed in Afghanistan.
British troops have been suffering record casualties, with the number of fatalities more than doubling to over 100 in the past year. Improvised explosive devices have been blamed for causing 70 per cent of the deaths.
Mastiffs 2s, based on the US Cougar, started to be sent to Afghanistan in June to upgrade the survivability of Britain’s army patrols in high-threat areas,
In November, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced that there was now enough equipment in Afghanistan to increase Britain’s deployment of 9,000 troops by a further 500.
Ainsworth said there were “a lot more Mastiffs, almost double the number of Mastiffs than we had before.” The better-armoured vehicles, such as the Mastiff and Ridgeback, were “now beginning to flow into theatre in considerable numbers,” he said.