The death of the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards has reignited the row over the lack of vital military equipment for British troops in Afghanistan.

The Government has been accused of providing too few transport helicopters, forcing soldiers to travel by road, the main target of Taleban attacks.

There were also charges that Viking armoured vehicles — the vehicle in which Lieutenant-Colonel Rupert Thorneloe was travelling when he was killed — do not have adequate protection against Taleban roadside bombs and mines.

Major-General Julian Thompson, who commanded 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines in the Falklands conflict in 1982, told The Times: “The question is not whether one vehicle or another is sufficiently armoured, it’s about the lack of helicopters. We need more helicopters in Afghanistan to ferry troops in high-risk areas.”

General Sir Mike Jackson, former Chief of the General Staff, said: “In a general sense, the MoD has been spending too much money on fast jets for the RAF rather than on helicopters.” But he added: “If you want to find someone to blame for this incident, however, start first with the enemy.” Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, blamed the lack of helicopters on Mr Brown’s refusal to supply adequate funds for the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan when he was Chancellor. “Gordon Brown denied the Armed Forces the funds they needed,” he said.

However, Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, denied yesterday that British Forces in Afghanistan suffered from shortages. “If you ask anybody in Afghanistan they will tell you our forces there are better equipped then they’ve ever been,” he said. “There’s been a fantastic improvement in the last couple of years, both in personal equipment and vehicles as well.”

He insisted that new vehicles were being brought out as quickly as possible and that more helicopters were not the answer. “We can’t conduct the kind of operations we need to conduct in Afghanistan from the air,” he said.

“Of course, helicopters are needed — we’re moving the Merlin helicopter across from Iraq — but ask the guys doing the job, they can’t conduct the operation in great big massive vehicles all the time, they need a range of vehicles. They need manoeuvrability, they need to be able to see what’s going on and they need to be able to get off the beaten track.”

“But they equally need to get in among the people and to walk around and there’s always going to be risk. Ask anybody, even those who have been injured, and they will tell you the risk can never be removed,” he said.

Commanding officers of battle groups such as Colonel Thorneloe use the Viking frequently to ferry them around theatre to visit units, sometimes because there are not enough helicopters available. Chinook helicopters, the most vital air asset, are on constant operations and commanders have to prioritise to ensure they are used for the most important missions.

Bad weather, dust storms and mechanical repair reduce availability. Up to eight Merlin helicopters are being transferred from Iraq to Afghanistan but they are being modified for operating in Helmand and will not be ready until later this year. They will join the relatively small fleet of Chinooks and Sea Kings already operating in the province, where British troops are concentrated. At least one Chinook is always dedicated to casualty evacuation.

The Viking was first purchased for the Royal Marines in 2003 and was designed for operating across snowy terrain in Norway. It was sent to Helmand in 2006 as a main troop-carrier.

It survived intact for its first year in Afghanistan until the Taleban worked out how best to target the vehicle. Casualty rates began to rise and last October, John Hutton, then the Defence Secretary, said that the new Warthog would replace Viking at a cost of £150 million. Eight soldiers have been killed in Vikings over the past three years.

The vehicle — which consists of two tracked vehicle units linked by a steering mechanism — was originally armoured to protect it from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. The most vulnerable part of the Viking has been the underside.

Also in the pipeline for Afghanistan are Buffalo mine-sweeping vehicles, Snatch Vixen armoured vehicles to replace the vulnerable Snatch Land Rovers, and an updated version of the Jackal, another armoured vehicle.

Yesterday tributes were paid to Colonel Thorneloe, the most senior British officer to be killed in action since the Falklands conflict. The Prince of Wales, the Colonel-in-Chief of the Welsh Guards, said he was “horrified” by the death. “Having been to visit the Welsh Guards at Aldershot before they left to go to Afghanistan, having met the families and having met Colonel Rupert’s wife, my heart is very much with them,” said Prince Charles.

The Prime Minister said: “I think the whole country will be mourning today the deaths of Colonel Rupert Thorneloe and Trooper Joshua Hammond [who was killed with him]. They were very professional soldiers, they were serving in Afghanistan in the most difficult terrain. Colonel Thorneloe was someone I know, someone I worked with, someone I admired.”

Des Browne, the former Defence Secretary who employed Colonel Thoneloe as his military assistant, said yesterday: “Rupert worked with me for a year and, like every member in my private office, he was like family to me. It was truly a privilege to have known him. He will be deeply missed.”

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