FUTURE wars will be fought differently, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has promised, after admitting the MoD "clearly failed" to provide British troops with appropriate equipment during the Iraq invasion.

Speaking a day after the Chilcot inquiry produced a damning verdict on the military's preparedness for war, he revealed a special team had been set up to analyse failing in Iraq and Afghanistan and learn the lessons from both conflicts.

"There were clearly failings in the initial supply of equipment in Iraq and those need to be explained and those need to be accounted for," he said.

"In all future conflicts there will be a much greater emphasis on what comes after the demonstration of power."

The Chilcot report identified a catalogue of failures which led to British troops heading to Iraq poorly prepared for the fighting to come.

Lightly armoured vehicles, vulnerable to Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted at the roadside, earned the grim nickname "mobile coffins".

As well as adequate vehicles, British forces on the ground were also short of helicopters and surveillance equipment.

The report found the secrecy surrounding the build-up to war prevented the military from securing the necessary kit from defence industry suppliers.

The structure of the MoD also hampered efforts to equip the invading force, as it was unclear who at the ministry was responsible for identifying "capability gaps".

Mr Fallon described the 12-volume report as "comprehensive and detailed" and noted that inquiry head Sir John Chilcot had identified "improvements" in subsequent military campaigns.

Fielding questions at the Royal United Service Institute's annual Air Power conference, he echoed a key conclusion of the report when he said: "Not nearly enough work was done on post conflict planning."

However, he said changes had been made to the way operations were now being conducted in Iraq.

He said: "We are working intensely in Iraq to encourage and assist the government of Iraq to stabilise those cities and towns that have been liberated by military action, to get in there as quickly as possible to tackle the IEDs and to provide the security to allow the population to return."

As a backbench Tory MSP, Mr Fallon, who succeeded Philip Hammond as defence secretary two years ago, voted in favour of the Iraq war in 2003.

In his present job, he played a leading role in the unsuccessful attempt to win parliamentary backing for Britain to intervene in Syria against Islamic State.

He is due to give a formal statement on the Chilcot report to MPs next Thursday at the end of two days of Parliamentary debate on the inquiry's findings.

The Iraq Inquiry found that Britain's engagement on two fronts - the brutal war in Afghanistan's Helmand Province was still being fought when troops entered Iraq - stretched resources beyond breaking point.

The report said the lack of armoured vehicles "should not have been tolerated" as deadly IEDs were deployed against British troops within weeks of the invasion.

Attempts to source tougher vehicles began before the invasion but were still continuing in 2006.

The then-Defence Secretary Des Brown was still wrestling with the problem of equipment shortfalls in 2007, the report found.

Despite the early success of toppling Saddam Hussein, Britain's involvement in Iraq led to later humiliations. At one point, detainees had to be released in order to bribe the militia controlling the city of Basra to stop targeting British forces.

In a damning conclusion, the report said: "The UK military role in Iraq ended a very long way from success."