Army ‘forced to depend on private firms’

Major General Graham Binns said the Ministry of Defence appeared more “reticent” about using armed contractors to support missions than other countries and other Whitehall departments.

He called on the Government to introduce a system for selecting and vetting a number of approved private security companies, which would be required to train regularly with troops.

Maj Gen Binns, who commanded coalition forces in southern Iraq from 2007 to 2008, is chief executive of British private security company Aegis Defence Services.

Writing in a book of essays published by the Army about how it should adapt for the future, he suggested that private security contractors (PSCs) would become an integral part of the forces deployed on operations.

“Given the current economic climate and future force structures, it is likely that commanders of future military operations of whatever type will encounter PSCs,” he said.

“Given the current size and structure of UK forces, it is inevitable that any future expeditionary deployment will require contractor support in many areas.

“PSCs may well come to feature as part of the force structure as there are many combat-support functions that can be fulfilled by PSCs, thus releasing troops for other duties.”