Libya intervention expected to cost UK £1bn
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, May 23, IRNA -- Britain's military intervention in Libya will cost the country’s taxpayer as much as £1 billion if it continues into the autumn as expected, according to estimates based on data and expert analysis.
Two months after western powers began bombing Libyan targets in Operation Unified Protector, the cost to Britain so far has officially been at least £100 million by way of the dozens of bombs dropped, hundreds of sorties flown and more than 1,000 service personnel deployed.
Although the true additional costs are not expected to be known for weeks, Francis Tusa, editor of the Defence Analysis newsletter, estimates that by the end of April Libyan operations had already cost the UK about £300m and that the bill was increasing by up to £38m a week.
According to data collected by the Guardian for the six weeks of aerial operations up to 5 May, the British have flown 25% of nearly 6,000 sorties over Libyan skies – second only to the Americans, but have been dropping far fewer bombs than their allies, relative to the number of flights.
Quoting defence officials, the daily said the cost was certain to be “significantly more than the tens of millions' stated in parliament by the chancellor, George Osborne, shortly after the bombing started.
“One other thing is certain: the cost of the bombs has been significantly more than the targets they have destroyed,” it said.
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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30399398
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