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Conventional Weapons

My Lords, I think that the noble Lord is correct. Although they were deployed in 2003, they were felt to have been supported by very detailed targeting procedures, which minimised civilian casualties. I believe that they were felt by the commanders there at the time to have been very effective against Iraqi armour and artillery. Nevertheless, I take the noble Lord’s point: the conflict was not what we had expected, which is why they were quickly withdrawn from use. Let me reassure the noble Lord—he is aware of this—that despite the very bad press that the M85 had in Lebanon, where it was used by the Israeli armed forces and where it was suggested there has been a failure rate of 25 per cent to 30 per cent, in the case of the British arsenal, the M85 has been tested rigorously. Tests conducted in Norway in 2005 suggested a failure rate of 2.3 per cent. Although any failure rate is not acceptable, that at least puts those weapons in a very different category.