Written question asked by Liam Fox (Conservative) on Monday, 15 June 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 17 June 2009. It was answered by Lord Davies of Stamford (Labour) on Monday, 22 June 2009 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Iraq and Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost of replacing assets lost, damaged or prematurely worn out by the conflicts in (a) Iraq and (b) Afghanistan in each of the next five years.

Answer: For Iraq, work is ongoing to ascertain the final impairment costs of fighting equipment deployed in Iraq, but our previous estimates of the cost of recuperation of assets lost, damaged or prematurely worn out in operations in Iraq is around £300 million. The figure will remain under review and excludes the costs of replenishing munitions.We are not in a position to accurately predict the forward level of recuperation necessary for the ongoing operation in Afghanistan. These will be dependent on a number of factors, including the size and type of the force in theatre and the operational tempo at the time. In Afghanistan recuperation for equipment and assets is carried out through a program of rolling-recuperation, for financial year 2008-09 costs were in the order of £150 million.

Secondary information