Re: Christmas Video from Afghanistan/Cheap MoD buying non-functional bullets
Originally Posted by Grey_Fox
The MoD tested five batches of bullets, all were found to be defective.
Didn't see that in the Video.
How many rounds in a batch?
How many batches in an order?
How many batches from each order tend to be defective?
Excessive fowling from bad ammunition? You don't get that after firing the few number of bullets shown in the vid. Maybe excessive fowling from bad maintenance.
Reinvent the British and you get a global finance center, edible food and better service. Reinvent the French and you may just get more Germans.
The lives of paratroopers were put in danger after the Ministry of Defence sent defective ammunition to Afghanistan, it can be revealed.
The situation became so serious that a platoon from the 3Bn The Parachute Regiment refused to go out on patrol until the problem was resolved. The troops had to borrow ammunition off Canadian and American special forces as they battled to fight off Taliban attacks.
The MoD, which yesterday unveiled plans for British troops to make a quicker-than-expected withdrawal from the front line in Iraq, has been unable to explain why defective ammunition for the .50 calibre Browning heavy machinegun was sent to Afghanistan.
It is thought that the batch was from either Pakistan or the Czech Republic, where a round costs 60 US cents. The price for British, Canadian or American ammunition is $1.50. With many thousands of rounds fired, using cheaper ammunition would have saved thousands of pounds.
A shocking demonstration of the poor quality rounds is shown on a video posted by a paratrooper on the YouTube website. It shows two soldiers in a sandbagged position struggling to operate the machinegun, which can also be mounted on Land Rovers.
One is shown constantly re-cocking the weapon as his colleague seeks to feed through the ammunition belt. At one point, the Para, who becomes exhausted with the strain of constantly pulling the cocking handle, drops the gun and swears in frustration. All the time incoming enemy fire can be heard.
The Browning has given troops in Afghanistan a boost in terms of firepower. It fires 550 rounds per minute and they can penetrate buildings and lightly-armoured vehicles.
It is thought that the defective ammunition was designed to fit the Russian-made DsHk 12.7mm heavy machinegun. The bullets are cut with less precision, leading to stoppages when fired from the Browning.
A Parachute Regiment officer involved in the fighting said: "The ammo we had was rubbish. It just kept jamming. At one point we refused to go out because it was so bad. Eventually we managed to scrounge some Canadian rounds.
"If we had not got that ammo we would certainly have lost a lot of people."
After the protest, senior technical officers tested five different batches of ammunition. They were all defective.
The Paras obtained ammunition from the Canadians and Americans and it was only when British special forces became involved that the situation was resolved. Rounds were bought from Canadian stocks in Afghanistan. "They refused to believe it was all crap until special forces got involved," the Para said. "After that we had the new stuff within a week."
An MoD spokesman said: "There are no current problems with this ammunition."
Re: Christmas Video from Afghanistan/Cheap MoD buying non-functional bullets
Originally Posted by Grey_Fox
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