Select Committee on Public Accounts Fourteenth Report

4  Operational benefits are limited by reductions in the programme

24. Bowman was accepted into service in March 2004, though with 27 major provisos that limit the operational capability of the system. It has been used by the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan and has resulted in significant operational benefits, although experience has highlighted problems that still need to be resolved prior to the final acceptance of the system from the contractor. The recast programme planned to be completed in 2007 now excludes important original requirements, including the ability to share data with coalition partners and to handle the much greater quantities of information transmitted.

Operational performance

25. The Department said that when Bowman CIP is being used by troops on operations it gives them options that they did not previously have. Communications take place much more quickly and effectively, and over relatively long ranges. In particular the Bowman radio is easier and speedier to use, in that there is no need to manually code messages. The ability to track troops and know where they are is a further important benefit.[30]

26. Bowman CIP is a complex system and it is important that troops are able to use it effectively. The basic training package provides a basic operator's understanding of how to work the system. However, specialist troops using the full range of services, such as the Royal Signals, receive a much greater degree of training. Many aspects of the Bowman system are not particularly intuitive, and the Department intends to work with the contractor to find ways to make it more so and easier to use.[31]

Progress with introducing Bowman into service

27. The conversion of army vehicles and units has taken longer than initially forecast. At the time of our hearing just over half the army's vehicles had been converted with the interim version of Bowman CIP. The Department told us that currently fewer than 20 of the provisos affecting this version still apply. The current stage of the programme to remove the provisos, known as Bowman CIP 5, is expected to take well into 2007 to complete. There remains a risk that further delays may occur because the operational load on the Army may prevent them from conducting the large field trial necessary to demonstrate progress before Bowman CIP 5 can be accepted.[32]

Reductions in the scope of Bowman CIP

28. The Department decided to omit many of the more technically difficult capabilities of the original Bowman CIP requirement system from Bowman CIP 5, including the capability to handle increased quantities of data and to exchange this directly with allies' systems. Studies are underway to explore the possibility of reflecting these capabilities in a possible future Bowman CIP 6, but demonstrator work has shown that it should be technically possible to exchange data with United States' forces. Removal of these capabilities from the current Bowman CIP, together with the delays and provisos to Bowman CIP 5, have reduced the operational benefits.[33]

29. The number of platforms to be converted to Bowman CIP has been substantially reduced as the programme has developed, including 18% fewer land vehicles and 74% fewer helicopters. The decrease was due to changes to the fleet of helicopters that is to be supported in future. The failure to convert any parts of the RAF to date had, in the Department's view, not impacted on operations. A way has been found to allow certain troops on the ground to talk to Apache attack helicopters, at a cost of £25 million. The Department had concluded that it would be too difficult to install Bowman itself in Apache at present, but they had not dismissed this possibility for the future.[34]

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30   Qq 13-14 Back

31   Qq 39-40, 43-44 Back

32   Q 73 Back

33   Ev 22 Back

34   Qq 103-111 Back

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Prepared 8 March 2007