§ Lord Hardy of Wathasked Her Majesty's Government:
What new weapons, weapon systems or items of significant equipment were used in Iraq in recent hostilities; and what assessment has been made of their effectiveness. [HL2898]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)In preparation for recent operations in Iraq a number of extant equipment programmes were accelerated and brought into service. These included the stand-off Storm Shadow precision missile, new tactical radiation monitoring equipment and temporary deployable accommodation. Other new equipment was acquired for the particular circumstances of the operation. Examples include the new obstacle breaching line explosives system, enhanced medical diagnostic and monitoring equipment, a vehicle decontamination system and the blue force tracking situational awareness system that comprised one part of UK ground forces' combat identification capability. In addition to these, the capability provided by some extant equipment, such as the personal role radio and other secure communications systems, was substantially enhanced; and some other systems, including the Maverick anti-armour guided missile, were utilised operationally for the first time.
Post operational reporting will provide analysis and an assessment of equipment deployed on operations in Iraq. It would, therefore, be premature for me to provide a detailed assessment of the performance of new equipment and any effect of operational use at this stage.