Helicopter shortage hurts UK troops in Afghanistan

Luke Baker

Reuters

LONDON: A shortage of helicopters is hurting British operations in Afghanistan, a report by a parliamentary committee said on Thursday, adding to pressure on the government to increase resources in the war zone. In a report whose publication was timed to coincide with a debate about the quality of British frontline troops’ equipment, the Defense Committee said there were concerns about the number of helicopters and the Defense Ministry’s program for procuring new ones.

“We believe that the size of the fleet is an issue, and are convinced that the lack of helicopters is having adverse consequences for operations today,” the report said. “Helicopters provide many vital capabilities to the modern armed forces, from the movement of troops and equipment around the battlefield to the detection and confrontation of submarines at sea.

“We were concerned both by the proposed reduction in the size of the fleet, and by the emergence of a ‘capability deficit’ ahead of the introduction of newer helicopters.”

The report will fuel calls by opposition parties for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to send more helicopters and armored vehicles to Afghanistan, where 15 British troops have been killed this month, most of them by roadside bombs.

There are less than a dozen heavy lift helicopters for the 9,000 British troops there, limiting the ability to fly people and equipment rapidly round the battlefield. As a result, more have to move by road, exposing them to roadside bombs.

Brown came under fire in Parliament Wednesday, when opposition Conservative leader David Cameron suggested that soldiers’ lives were being put at risk because of a lack of aircraft – a charge Brown rejected.

The government finds itself in a tight corner. The financial and economic crisis is putting the budget under pressure, so it can ill afford spending on expensive new defense programs.

Instead, the government is planning a defense review next year, which is expected to produce cuts in the $59 billion defense budget, and is trying to extend existing defense programs, including helicopters, some of them more than 30 years old.

The Defense Committee said it was unconvinced by plans to extend the life of air assets, which would undermine the objectives of the armed forces.

“Only a procurement of new helicopters can meet the original objective of reducing the number of types of helicopter in service within the UK armed forces,” the report said.

The report also acknowledged that sending more helicopters to Afghanistan would make no difference if there were not enough crews to fly and maintain them.

It found that air and ground crews were stretched after repeated deployments and manning was under severe strain.

“Operations in Afghanistan have now been made the highest priority, what is known as a ‘campaign footing,’ but this has stretched the manning of the helicopter fleet,” so it was not feasible to rush more helicopters to the war zone, it said.

The increase in British deaths has sparked fierce debate here over the mission’s terms and conditions, ahead of a general election in Britain that must be held by the middle of next year.

Afghan official: 21 insurgents killed after Taliban attack convoy

KABUL: Taliban militants attacked a military supply convoy in southern Afghanistan, sparking a gun battle that killed 21 insurgents and three border police, a provincial official said Thursday.

The convoy was targeted Wednesday soon after it crossed the border from Pakistan, said Hamidullah Zhwak, a spokesman for the governor of Paktika Province. He said it was guarded by more than 80 private security guards, and he had no reports that any of them were killed or wounded.

Meanwhile, international and Afghan forces killed two insurgents who helped mount bomb attacks in eastern Afghanistan, NATO forces said. Though a major military push is going on in southern Afghanistan, clashes continue in the east, where a mainly US force battles militants along the turbulent border with Pakistan.

Four other militants were captured in Wednesday’s operation in Kunar Province, the military alliance said in a statement. It did not give further details.

Militants regularly use roadside and suicide bombings to attack international troops in Afghanistan, making the makeshift explosive one of the biggest threats to American and NATO forces trying to rout the resurgent Taliban.