The UK government has announced an extension to an existing contingent liability associated with its military support to Ukraine, as outlined in a written statement by Luke Pollard, the Minister for the Armed Forces.
The contingent liability involves indemnifying UK defence industry partners against legal or financial claims arising from potential malfunctions of military systems provided to Ukraine. In his statement, Pollard emphasised the significance of this support, stating:
“Since the start of Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion, the UK has been at the forefront of international support to Ukraine, providing essential military capability to the armed forces of Ukraine.”
The indemnity covers any legal or associated costs arising from third-party claims related to property damage, injury, or loss of life. While the risk of such occurrences is assessed as low, the liability will remain unquantifiable for the service life of the systems provided.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has collaborated with stakeholders to minimise potential risks. According to Pollard:
“The MOD and other stakeholders are taking all reasonable measures to mitigate the risk of injury and or damage, and Defence legal advisers assess the likelihood of any risk arising as low.”
The decision builds upon a liability initially agreed upon in July, during the pre-election period when Parliament was dissolved. Pollard explained:
“This notification confirms the intention to extend a contingent liability that was initially agreed in July, during the pre-election period when Parliament had been dissolved and the normal process for notification of reportable contingent liabilities could not be followed.”
As per standard procedure, a 14-day parliamentary scrutiny period will now follow, allowing Members of Parliament to raise objections.
“We have developed capabilities, working with UK industry, to increase the support to the armed forces of Ukraine to defend against the threat from Russia.”
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Presumably this is to do with old munitions & systems that were not extensively tested and certified?
Although the risk should be laid off to UKR as they are sovereign?
Plus the mashups of existing weapons onto Ukrainian launch systems (eg the old Tornado pylon adaptor for SU-24 to fire Storm Shadow).
The indemnity is part of the overall U.K. aid package to Ukraine. It’s also likely to be small and more than covered by the tax from future weapons sales to Ukraine – they’re more likely to buy weapons that they already have a positive experience of.