LONDON, Dec 11: British troops went into battle in Iraq without vital protective equipment because the ministry of defence was unable to deliver kit on time, a government spending watchdog said on Thursday.

In a report on the armed forces’ performance in the invasion, the National Audit Office (NAO) said body armour, desert uniforms and nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) suits all failed to reach troops on the frontline.

“The supply system was simply swamped by the sheer volume of equipment,” said NAO director David Clarke, who oversaw the report.

Some Challenger 2 tanks were fully armoured for desert warfare only 48 hours before they went into action, while tanks and other armoured vehicles never received their protective NBC filters, the report said.

While the NAO said the operation in Iraq was a “significant military success” it added that lessons must be learned, particularly as there had been similar problems for British troops during the 1991 Gulf War and Bosnia and Kosovo operations.

The NAO publication came on the same day as a separate Ministry of Defence report entitled “Operations in Iraq: Lessons for the Future”, which conceded that “some shortages of equipment were experienced”. —AFP