§ 24. Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on developing methods of distinguishing between enemy combatants and civilians in each year from 1997–98 to the latest year for which figures are available. [50963]
§ Dr. MoonieMinimising non-combatant casualties is of course among our highest priorities whenever we are involved in military operations but it is not a discrete 527W capability. It is the product of a wide range of different activities and approaches, and equipment based solutions. For example, it ranges from the assessment of strategic level intelligence for strike missions all the way through to training for sentry duty. There is therefore no simple figure available.