LONDON, July 8 (UPI) -- Britain has no plans to buy new helicopters for its troops in Afghanistan, but will instead transfer existing ones there, the Minister of Defense says.
Negative reaction was swift after Bob Ainsworth said Wednesday that rather than adding new aircraft, eight Merlin helicopters would be transferred from Iraq and eight Chinooks, now undergoing conversions to basic troop carriers, will join them for the Afghanistan fight, The Times of London reported.
Brian Crowe, deputy chairman of the London foreign affairs think tank Chatham House and a former senior diplomat, assailed Ainsworth as he delivered the news during an appearance there, saying the helicopter situation was "a real scandal," asserting British troops working in Afghanistan's restive Helmand province had no helicopters and instead had to use aircraft supplied by the United States.
The Times said Ainsworth acknowledged British troops at times had to use American helicopters, saying, "We could never match the helicopter assets of the Americans," while calling for patience from the public over the Operation Panther's Claw military campaign.
Success in Afghanistan, he said, will be measured by "how safe the public feel and how far peaceful life can be resumed."
