Lord Dannatt
Main Page: Lord Dannatt (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Dannatt's debates with the Ministry of Defence
(12 years, 3 months ago)
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Lord Astor of Hever
My Lords, I think that that is a very gloomy statement, and I do not share the noble Lord’s views on this.
Lord Dannatt
My Lords, would the Minister like to comment a little further on some of the equipment issues arising from our withdrawal from Afghanistan, in particular noting that many of the vehicles we use to provide protected mobility have been bought under the urgent operational requirement scheme specifically for Afghanistan? Would he comment about future protected mobility for the infantry in particular, given that the FRES utility programme has slipped from 2012 to about 2022?
Lord Astor of Hever
My Lords, there never was an intention to deploy FRES to Afghanistan. The Government have deployed a range of protected mobility vehicles, including the Mastiff, which is highly valued by our troops. The new Foxhound lightweight protected vehicle is being delivered for training purposes now so that those deploying shortly will be able to use it on operations in Afghanistan from the spring.