A Gulf War veteran has said British military equipment is less effective in desert conditions now than it was 12 years ago.

Brian Tooze's comments follow a Whitehall report which found that a catalogue of equipment failures hampered military exercises in Oman last year.

Mr Tooze told BBC News Online some of the problems - such as the SA80 rifle jamming in the heat - were so long-standing they affected troops operating in Iraq in 1990-1991.

They keep telling us the world has changed but they obviously didn't purchase equipment to cope with the new threat

"My SA80 was so useless I flung it in a bag in the back of a wagon and picked up an AK-47 which had been discarded by the Iraqis," he said. "You need a weapon that's going to work."

He said nine times out of 10 in modern warfare UK troops would be serving alongside US troops - and very often ended up borrowing their guns.

He said a relative serving in Afghanistan recently had told him that the newly modified SA80 was still causing problems.

"It's crazy. He's now using an AR-15, the American weapon, instead."

Tank upgrade

SA80s aside, however, Mr Tooze said most of the military equipment functioned well during his time on the Gulf frontline from October 1990 to March 1991.

He said the predecessor to the current Challenger Two tanks, which ground to a halt in Oman after their filters clogged up with dust, had worked fine.

The radio system was OK - the problem is that it's now 30-odd years old

"Challenger One had decent filters fitted. The desert was very dusty - you needed to clean the filters every day, but they worked.

"But for some reason when they purchased a new version they chose one without a desert filter."

The much-derided Clansman Radio, which was meant to be replaced several years ago, had also worked well at the time, he said.

"The radio system was OK - the problem is that it's now 30-odd years old, it's past its sell-by date."

Mr Tooze was quite startled to hear that boots had melted and fallen apart in Oman, as he had had "no problem" with his desert boots in the Gulf.

"They're fine, I'm still wearing them now - I use them to do the garden," he said.

The effect on morale among the troops who worked in Oman, he said, was serious.

"I'm in touch with some of them and they've told me some of the kit wasn't as good as we had before.

Civil servants blamed

"It's a very difficult environment to work in anyway. It's very hot, very dusty and very dirty, and very cold at night.

"You need to have a weapon that's going to go bang when you pull the trigger."

He said that although defence officials talked a lot about the changing nature of warfare, defence procurement seemed unable to keep up with the new demands.

"They keep telling us the world has changed but they obviously didn't purchase equipment to cope with the new threat," he said.

He believes that the problem lies partly with a lack of funding, and mainly with politicians trying to save money in the wrong areas.

"It's not so much on the military side, more on the civil servants side, maybe trying to get the best deal for their money and cutting corners on procurement."