Defence forces to get new personnel carriers

The battle to modernise the Defence Forces will continue this year with the delivery of new armoured personnel carriers and training aircraft, its chief of staff is expected to say today.

Lieutenant General Jim Sreenan will launch the organisation’s fifth annual report which has placed attaining new equipment at the centre of its plans to revamp the forces.

The enhanced armoury programme allowed the Defence Forces to provide the UN with a fully-armoured personnel carrier quick reaction force for the first time ever.

The Air Corps made a down-payment of €17.5m for eight trainer aircraft, three of which will be delivered this year.

In December of 2003, a new €10m Learjet was delivered to Baldonnel for the Government’s Ministerial Air Transport Service and more of the 25 Piranha Armoured Personnel Carriers will be finished this year.

The 2003 report will show an armoured personnel carrier battalion of troops were deployed to Liberia in record time.

The reorganisation of the forces’ work abroad has seen one brigade taking responsibility for the Liberia operation, another for Kosovo and the third organising the replacement.

At the end of last year the forces had 835 personnel deployed overseas with the majority of these with the peace support missions in Liberia and Kosovo.

The forces also sent personnel to support 20 other missions including those in Afghanistan, the Middle East, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Cote d’Ivoire, Bosnia, Georgia and Cyprus.

The Defence Forces class the peace support operations as inherently high risk and dangerous military undertakings.

Sergeant Derek Mooney from the Army Ranger Wing lost his life while on a routine peace patrol on November 27 after a road traffic accident on the outskirts of the Liberian capital, Monrovia.

The 2003 report will show the Government’s bid to reduce public sector employees means the forces’ numbers will be reduced by 250 by 2005.