Bugs hamper patrol vehicle's combat role
December 29, 2010 - 12:34AM
AAP
New British-built army patrol vehicles for Australian special forces troops are plagued with problems and have not been deployed in Afghanistan two years after they were purchased.
The federal government bought 31 of the Nary patrol vehicles for almost $50 million in August 2008 under former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon.
They were bought without going to tender because of
"operational urgency".
But Fairfax newspapers say the vehicles, named Nary after SAS Warrant Officer David Nary, who died in 2005, have electronics problems and are too heavy to be carried on cargo helicopters.
They were set to replace armoured Land Rover and Bushmaster vehicles at the beginning of 2009.
Hundreds of the same vehicles are operational in Afghanistan with the British Army.
Australia's Defence Department said the Nary's introduction was set for the second half of 2011.
But a Defence source with knowledge of the project said: "One would like to think that this is a capability that should have been (in Afghanistan) by now".
Industry sources say the Defence Materiel (Materiel) Organisation has failed to merge the British vehicles with US-designed electronics and communications used by the Australian Army.
This may affect systems for secret communications designed to prevent the enemy from listening in.
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