Armoured cars on Army wish list

Snatch Land Rovers will be replaced...

The Ministry of Defence has said it hopes to buy hundreds of new armoured vehicles to protect soldiers against roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The ministry is reported to have asked for £500m to replace the Army's fleet of snatch Land Rovers.

These modified, thin-skinned vehicles are designed to withstand small arms fire, but have been criticised for offering insufficient protection.

The MoD said it was in talks with the Treasury but would not comment further.

Reports say the new vehicles could be in the field by the start of 2009.

Explosive devices

The News of the World said that among the heavily armed vehicles on the ministry's shopping list are 100 Jackal patrol 4x4s and 100 supply vehicles, based on the Mastiff patrol vehicle.

... by better-protected vehicles such as the Jackal

Both have been used by troops in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past two years.

More than 30 soldiers have been killed while patrolling in snatch Land Rovers since 2003. The vehicle was designed for operations in Northern Ireland almost 20 years ago.

Corporal Sarah Bryant, the first British woman killed on duty in Afghanistan, and three male SAS reservists died on 17 June when their Land Rover was destroyed by a landmine.

And in August, Susan Smith, whose son Phillip Hewett died in Iraq in 2005, launched a damages action against the MoD that alleged "failures" over the use of snatch Land Rovers.

In a statement, she said the lightly armoured vehicles were "designed to provide no more than limited protection against ballistic threats, mainly small arms bullets", and offered "little or no protection against improvised explosive devices".

'Lives saved'

The ministry said then that it was reducing the number of snatches - about 100 have been in use by British troops in Afghanistan.

Our correspondent Caroline Wyatt said roadside bombs were an increasing threat, and some soldiers had told her they hesitated about using the vulnerable vehicles while on patrol.

A spokesman for the MoD said it was "constantly looking to improve the equipment provided to its forces on the front line.

"During the past two years, over 100 Mastiff, one of the best-protected patrol vehicles in the world, and 130 new Jackal vehicles were provided for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, where they have saved the lives of countless military personnel," he said.

"We are in discussions with the Treasury in relation to the provision of additional vehicles. It would therefore be inappropriate to comment further."