Doubts are already being raised about the extra armoured vehicles and troopcarrying helicopters that are being prepared for British soldiers in Helmand province.

Experience from the past three years has shown that when better and tougher vehicles are dispatched the Taleban adapts its technology and methods to overcome them.

The Jackal, a well-armoured, open-top vehicle that is supposedly mine-resistant, was sent to Helmand because of the extra protection that it would provide, but it failed to stand up to the Taleban test.

Although the Jackal has exceptionally good cross-terrain manoeuvrability, about ten soldiers have been killed in the vehicle since it was deployed last year. All were victims of roadside bombs that proved too powerful for the Jackal’s armour.

The Viking and the Vector will be withdrawn after 12 soldiers and Royal Marines died while travelling in them.

The Ministry of Defence is preparing to send the latest in heavyweight vehicles as part of a £700 million equipment package designed specially for Afghanistan.

They include Wolfhound heavy-armoured support trucks; Husky medium-armoured vehicles; Coyote lightly armoured support vehicles; and 100 cross-country vehicles called Warthog, which will replace the Viking.

There are 200 more Jackals; the Buffalo “mine-protected” vehicle; and the Snatch-Vixen, which has more power and protection than the controversial lightly armoured Snatch Land Rover in which 37 soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan.

The Husky will be a crucial vehicle for transporting supplies. There were claims in The Mail on Sunday yesterday however that the Americans rejected it for their soldiers in Afghanistan.

The MoD said that the Husky model being bought for the British Army was not the same as the one rejected by the Americans, and that it would give added protection.

The MoD also has up to 16 more helicopters — Chinooks and Merlins — intended for Helmand but not all of them will be sent. Eight Chinook Mark 3s, which have been grounded for eight years because of software problems, are being converted by Boeing into troop-carrying helicopters.

Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, said that some of the Chinooks, which are regarded as the most valuable of all utility helicopters because of their size and lifting capability, will remain at home “for training purposes”.

The MoD would not say how many of the eight Merlin troop-carrying helicopters will be transferred to Afghanistan, although it is likely that they will all be sent. None of them has yet been deployed because they are being modified for the Helmand operation.

The British Task Force, with about 6,000 troops in Helmand and about 3,000 in neighbouring Kandahar, are making do with about ten Chinooks, eight Sea Kings and five smaller Lynxes. By contrast the 4,000-strong US Marine brigade that is in Helmand has brought in 120 helicopters.

The British force sends most supplies by road rather than by helicopter because of the shortage of Chinooks. It has thus made itself vulnerable to Taleban tacticians, who watch the routes used, assess the routines for supply deliveries and plant bombs to hit the convoys.

A former British special forces operative with many years’ experience in the SAS told The Times that there were systems that could help the troops to receive their supplies without using road convoys but “the MoD does not seem to be willing to spend the money”.

The former soldier said that the SAS used an air delivery system in which pallets of supplies were dropped from a Hercules C130 transport aircraft with a winged parachute and computer attached, ensuring that they landed softly within a few feet of the designated location.

“This technology has been around for some years and if used in Afghanistan would avoid everything having to be sent by road,” the soldier said.

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