how financially sustainable is the mission?

As Britain flexes its military muscle at Col Muammar Gaddafi alongside international partners, it's the human not economic cost that is foremost in people's minds.

But with the government intent on saving billions of pounds and with no clear exit strategy in Libya, just how financially sustainable is the mission?

Prof Malcolm Charmers, from defence think-tank the Royal United Services Institute, says the cost will fluctuate dramatically depending on which direction the mission takes.

"If the war goes on for a relatively limited time - weeks rather than months - then we're talking about relatively small sums - at least compared to Afghanistan, which costs £4bn a year," he said.

"If this goes on for less than a month and is primarily air-powered, then hundreds of millions at most. The cost could start rising sharply if you had significant ground operations."

He said the war could be lengthened if there was a stalemate on the ground between the rebels and Libyan government which the coalition could only break with ground action.

The big cost in Afghanistan and Iraq was not the fighting at the beginning but the occupation that followed”

Prof Charmers
Prof Charmers pointed out that in the 1999 air war against Serbia in Kosovo, Nato became frustrated with its ineffective military strikes and increasingly began to target infrastructure.

Posted in: how financially sustainable is the mission