§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the number of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia tanks and armoured personnel carriers destroyed during the war in Kosovo. [122636]
§ Mr. SpellarNATO's assessment of the number of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia tanks and armoured personnel carriers destroyed during the Kosovo conflict was made public by the then Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Wesley Clark, on 16 September 1999. General Clark's analysis, based on access to a wide range of sources, concluded that 93 tanks/self-propelled artillery pieces were successfully struck (in other words destroyed or damaged), with physical evidence of 26 such vehicles having been destroyed (14 tanks and 12 self-propelled artillery pieces) remaining on the ground after NATO had entered Kosovo—the remainder of the assessment is underpinned by evidence from other sources. NATO assessed there to have been 153 successful strikes against Armoured Personnel Carriers, with the destruction of 12 such vehicles confirmed by evidence on the ground. The methodology used to put together the NATO assessment is explained in detail in the transcript of General Clark's presentation, available on the internet at the NATO website: www.nato.int/kosovo/press/p990916a.htm. Battle Damage Assessment is not an exact science, but these are the most comprehensive figures available.