Urgent action is needed to prevent more UK troops being killed by so-called "friendly fire", an influential group of MPs has warned.

The lives of our forces, and indeed of innocent civilians too, depend on some urgent action

Edward Leigh, committee chairman

During the Gulf War nine British soldiers were killed in a US air raid, and there have been a number of incidents since.

The father of one of the dead servicemen said he was disgusted that the MoD had failed to develop a system to protect UK troops.

But Defence Minister Lord Bach insisted the MoD took the issue "extremely seriously" and had taken a number of steps to address the problems.

In a highly critical report, the Commons public accounts committee says the Ministry of Defence has not done enough to prevent further tragedies.

Slow progress?

The report examines the MoD's systems for distinguishing between friendly, neutral and hostile elements on the battlefield.

It says defence chiefs were warned in 1992 that they should urgently procure an electronic Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system.

A decade later, the MoD has only just approved a policy paper on combat identification.

Some of the solutions needed to implement the policy are "years away from fruition," the report says.

That slow progress is "unsatisfactory", say the MPs, and the MoD needs to up the tempo of its efforts.

Combat effectiveness

Delays in acquiring a combat identification system were even impeding the effectiveness of some weapons systems, say the MPs.

Nine British troops were killed by friendly fire in the Gulf

The �2bn Rapier air defence missile system had to operate at just 25% of its potential capability in order to minimise the risk of "friendly fire" casualties, the report says.

The MoD's habit of expressing the number of friendly fire casualties as a proportion of troops deployed, rather than as a share of all casualties, means that the department is "in danger of underplaying the implications" of such incidents.

Morale issues

The report also warns that the failure to develop a combat identification capability heightened the risk of civilian casualties.

That problem could damage public support for future deployments, it argues.

There is no easy panacea to this - there is no purely technical solution

Lord Bach

Future operations are likely to be undertaken with allies, which "obviously complicates combat identification and increases the risks of friendly fire", the report adds.

Committee chairman Edward Leigh said: "The MoD has been rather pedestrian in making progress on tackling the risks from friendly fire.

"The lives of our forces, and indeed of innocent civilians too, depend on some urgent action."

'Not good enough'

Liberal Democrat committee member David Rendel was even more critical of the MoD.

"All that they have done over the last 10 years is produce a policy paper and frankly that is not good enough when you know that in the Gulf and in other activities since then, we have lost a number of troops to friendly fire," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

You would think ... a friend-or-foe system would be child's play for the MoD

Mel Gillespie

With the possibility of war with Iraq topping the political agenda, Conservative shadow defence minister Gerald Howarth said tackling the problem had to be a high priority before British troops were deployed in the Gulf again.

Richard Gillespie, 19, a member of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was among the nine British soldiers killed during the US attack.

His father Mel, from North Tyneside, said: "You would think with the technology available today a friend-or-foe system would be child's play for the MoD.

"These young men expect to face guns and bombs, but it is something entirely different to have to worry about your allies coming at you from behind."

New tools

Instead, Lord Bach insisted: "Modern warfare is much more complicated. We have done a lot.

"There is no easy panacea to this - there is no purely technical solution. Equipment can take us some of the way, but that is only part of the solution."

Lord Bach said half a billion pounds was being spent on the successor to the IFF system.

The long-awaited Bowman radio was en route and will be a "brilliant communication system". Troops operating in Afghanistan had been given personal radios, he told Today.