23 August 2002
The Ministry of Defence has done little to reduce the risk of British troops being killed by so-called 'friendly-fire' - a decade after
it was warned about problems with combat identification equipment, MPs have reported.
A highly critical report by the influential Public Accounts Committee says the MoD has not done enough to prevent combat tragedies similar to the Gulf War incident in which nine British soldiers were killed by 'friendly fire' from US allies.
PAC chair Edward Leigh said that in 1992, the committee's predecessors had concluded that the MoD should redouble its efforts to procure a top quality combat identification system.
'A decade later, the department has only just approved a policy paper on combat identification and many of the solutions required to implement that policy are years away from fruition,' he added.
With one eye on a potential British deployment to Iraq in future, Leigh said the MoD's inaction could discourage the public from supporting future operations.
PFaug2002
