LONDON, April 7: A software blunder has left Britain short of Chinook helicopters in Iraq and reliant on the United States to reach full battlefield capability, a government spending watchdog said on Wednesday.

Eight of the Royal Air Force's Chinooks, worth 259 million pounds (476 million dollars), were grounded because navigation software did not fit in the cockpits, said the National Audit Office (NAO) report.

Britain's helicopter fleet is "not fully equipped to undertake missions in certain operational conditions, including those recently experienced in Afghanistan and Iraq," the report said. The defence ministry accepted there was a "capability shortfall, particularly in the support helicopter area."

Government defence procurement minister Lord William Bach acknowledged the debacle was "absolutely extraordinary" but blamed it on a "bad contract" signed by the - now opposition - Conservative government in 1995. "Thanks to a massively botched job, they cannot be flown when there is a cloud in the sky," said Edward Leigh, chairman of the British parliament's accounts committee.

"Instead of desperately needed helicopters, the MOD (Ministry of Defence) might as well have bought eight turkeys," added Leigh, a Conservative MP. It is estimated it would cost 127 million pounds to put the problem right and the Chinooks would be sitting on the ground until at least 2007, nine years after they were initially due in service.

The NAO watchdog said that a 38 percent shortfall in Chinook-type support helicopters would not be made up until 2017-18. The report, entitled "MOD Battlefield Helicopters", revealed shortages in vital equipment, such as sand filters, nuclear, biological and chemical protection for aircrew, communications technology and helicopter protection.

The shortage of sand filters meant just 24 Lynx helicopters were deployed in Iraq, rather than the mission requirement of at least 33, according to the report. -AFP