Government Refuses to Reveal How Many RAF Bombs Failed to Explode as it would Harm Arms Trade Manufacturer’s ‘Trade Secrets’

• The UK Government has refused to say how many of its bombs failed to explode following airstrikes in Iraq and Syria because this will impact “trade secrets” and its relationship with arms producers.
• Following a Freedom of Information request, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) refused to release information regarding ‘blind munitions’ or unexploded bombs (UXB) dropped by RAF planes between September 2014 (in Iraq) and December 2015 (in Syria), up to the end of 2019.
• Citing Section 43 (Commercial interests), the MoD argued that the number of dud missiles could not be listed “so as not to negatively affect the UK Government’s relationship with the manufacturers, and also protect the ‘trade secrets’ owned by the manufacturer”.
• In addition, the rejection cited Section 26 (Defence), arguing that the release of such information would compromise UK military effectiveness and future operations, by revealing UK tactics and strike capabilities to adversaries.

Source: ByLine Times

 

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