It’s Operation Rustbucket! Military chiefs ‘send fault-prone 60-year-old vehicle’ to major war-game exercise’

Military chiefs have been left red-faced following claims they sent breakdown-prone 60-year-old armoured vehicles to a major war-game exercise.

Exercise Cerberus, which is held every two years in Germany, tests the Army’s ability to fight large-scale battles using around 3,200 troops and 800 vehicles.

But preparations for this year’s operation, which kicks off on Thursday, have been branded a ‘complete failure’.

Sources claim top brass have deployed a fleet of Bulldog armoured vehicles which are 60 years old, prone to breakdowns and do not go faster than walking pace. They have also cited a string of blunders including kit shortages and communication issues.

‘It’s a complete unmitigated failure,’ one soldier told the Mail. ‘I’m terrified of going on operations in such an under-funded organisation.

British troops from 51 Squadron RAF Regiment leave in a Bulldog infantry troop carrier to patrol the Al Waki and Qamat Ali areas of Basra in 2004

A Warrior armoured vehicle takes part in the Royal Tank Regiment Regimental Parade in Bulford

‘Nearly every Bulldog on the exercise cannot go over 5mph. My mum is in her 60s and the vehicle I’m in is as old as her.’

A second Army source in the UK said they were hearing reports of ‘multiple failures with vehicle breakdowns and communication problems’.

The claims will heighten fears that the Armed Forces are ill-equipped to meet global threats, with the Mail calling for a major revamp as part of its Don’t Leave Britain Defenceless campaign.

The latest comments come just two months after the Mail revealed that training budgets are being slashed to fund pay rises for troops. Exercise ­Cerberus is meant to test the ‘command and control’ of the 3rd Division – the UK’s primary armoured war-fighting force – on the battlefield.

But sources say preparations for this year’s exercise, which will last for two weeks, have been hit by a series of faults. They claim that some of the Land Rovers, which commanders and units use to communicate, do not have radios and are effectively useless.

Some vehicles deployed on the exercise are said to have been poorly maintained with a lack of spare parts, and there is allegedly a shortage of soldiers qualified to drive them.

The Mail also understands that six Bulldogs operated by just one signals squadron broke down over 48 hours last week. Retired brigadier Ben Barry said: ‘This reinforces two things: not enough has been spent on maintenance and stockpiles and, out of the three services, the Army is the least modernised.’

An Army spokesman said: ‘The main phase of Exercise Cerberus hasn’t started yet and it’s always the case that preparatory activity is used to test equipment and work through challenges.’