Royal Air Force Nimrod crash in Afghanistan
Encyclopedia
Royal Air Force Nimrod XV230 was the first of 38 Nimrod maritime reconnaissance/strike aircraft to enter operational service with the RAF on October 2, 1969. At a ceremony held at Woodford airfield in Cheshire
, the aircraft was handed over by the deputy managing director of Hawker Siddeley Aviation, Sir Harry Broadhurst
. Receiving XV230 were the AOC-in Chief of Coastal Command, Air Marshal Sir John Lapsley
. At Sir Harry's invitation, Lady Lapsley performed the naming ceremony. Later in the day an RAF crew flew XV230 to its base at RAF St Mawgan, Cornwall, where the Nimrod maritime operational training unit (MOTD) was to be formed.
According to Jane's Information Group
, XV230 was one of six Nimrods equipped with an L-3 Wescam
MX-15 electro-optical turret in 2003. In June/July 2006 XV230 was given the capability to transmit real-time video imagery from the MX-15 to ground stations and commanders. This was implemented under Project Broadsword.
During a reconnaissance
flight it crashed in Afghanistan
on 2 September 2006, killing 14 military personnel in Britain's deadliest single loss since the Falklands War
.
The pilot reported a fire in his bomb-bay. He tried to reach Kandahar air base, taking the aircraft down from 23,000 ft to 3,000 ft in 90 seconds. An RAF Harrier aircraft followed the Nimrod down and the pilot saw a wing explode, followed a few seconds later by the rest of the aircraft.
The crash site was about 25 miles WNW of Kandahar Airfield
(which is located 16 kilometers south-east of the city of Kandahar
) between two villages called Chil Khor and Fatehullah Qala in the Panjwaye District
. Witnesses included local men Abdul Manan, Afshan Hararoot and Haji Eisamuddin.
Twelve RAF personnel, a Royal Marine and a British Army
soldier aboard the Nimrod MR2, XV230 were killed. The 12 RAF crew were all from No. 120 Squadron RAF
, based at RAF Kinloss
in Scotland
and the soldier and marine on board were serving with the Special Reconnaissance Regiment
A board of inquiry report was released in December 2007.
On 23 May 2008 the assistant deputy coroner for Oxfordshire, Andrew Walker, handed down a narrative ruling that it had "never been airworthy from the first time it was released to the service nearly 40 years ago".
"It seems to me that this is a case where I would be failing in my duty if I didn't report action to the relevant authority that would prevent future fatalities,"
"I have given the matter considerable thought and I see no alternative but to report to the secretary of state that the Nimrod fleet should not fly until the Alarp [as low as reasonably practicable] standards are met."
MP, Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger called for its replacement - the MRA4 - to be introduced quicker. The replacement aircraft has suffered significant problems during the development and construction which has resulted in lengthy programme delays and the in-service date slipping nine years from 2003 to 2012 (although the replacement has now been scrapped entirely following the 2010 strategic defence review).
Concerns were again raised when on Monday 5 November 2007, Nimrod XV235 was reported to have suffered a similar fuel leak. The aircraft landed safely. The MoD have since suspended all in-flight refuelling of the Nimrod fleet.
The Scottish National Party
's Westminster leader, Angus Robertson
has criticised delays in inquiries. He said the wait for the Ministry of Defence
inquiry and a coroner's inquest was a "disgrace" that dates have still to be set for the publication of the board of inquiry's findings and a coroner's inquest into the deaths. He was also quoted as saying Everybody's thoughts are with the families and friends of those who lost their lives. They are having to wait far too long to receive answers to many questions. A 12-month wait is a disgrace - Publication dates have been put back and put back and the Ministry of Defence should get on with it."
In March 2009, following continued questions about the safety of the Nimrod fleet and despite constantly stating that the aircraft were airworthy, the MOD grounded the Nimrod fleet for "vital safety modification[s]".
Concerns about the safety of the Nimrod fleet have continued to surface since the loss of XV230. In April 2009 it was reported that the Defence Minister had "glossed over Nimrod safety fears". The Independent newspaper claimed that a report into the safety of Britain's ageing fleet of Nimrod spy planes, which a defence minister claimed did not reveal "any significant airworthiness issues", exposed almost 1,500 faults – 26 of which threatened the aircraft's safety.
Links into the full report on the XV230 accident can be found here
On 23 May 2008, the coroner who led the inquest into these deaths stated that the entire Nimrod fleet had "never been airworthy from the first time it was released to service" and urged that it should be grounded. Assistant deputy coroner for Oxfordshire Andrew Walker added: "This cavalier approach to safety must come to an end. There were failures...[in monitoring the aircraft's safety]...that should, if the information had been correctly recorded and acted upon, have led to the discovery of this design flaw within the Nimrod fleet."
, on 13 December 2007.
It emerged in May 2009 that an RAF commander destroyed a number of official documents after the loss of Nimrod XV230. The Times newspaper, 31 May 2009, reported that all documents relating to the aircraft were immediately impounded but Sqn Ldr Guy Bazalgette, commander of the Nimrod detachment in the Gulf, managed to retrieve one file. Bazalgette subsequently destroyed the document but later told the coroners inquest that none of the shredded documents were relevant to the loss of XV230. However, Bazalgette admitted: “They should not have been shredded and it was my fault that they were.”
Also in May 2009, Charles Haddon-Cave, QC, leading the Nimrod Review issued a number of Salmon letters to organisations and senior RAF officers warning them they were likely to be criticised in its formal report. The so-called Salmon letters give those who are likely to be criticised by the inquiry the opportunity to respond to the criticism before the report’s publication. The MoD and the Nimrod inquiry team declined to say which senior RAF officers had received letters.
On October 28, Haddon-Cave presented his report, summarised by the statement:
The report:
Mr Haddon-Cave condemned the change of organisational culture within the MoD between 1998 and 2006, when financial targets came to distract from safety, quoting a former senior RAF officer who told the inquiry:
Mr Haddon-Cave directly criticised 10 individuals in the report - five at the MoD, three at BAE Systems and two at QinetiQ - while throughout the review BAE Systems had been a company "in denial." Mr Haddon-Cave's report directly criticised two RAF officers:
Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth
said the "rigorous" report would make distressing reading for the relatives of those who died.
Mr Ainsworth told the Commons the two RAF officers had been moved to staff posts which held no responsibility for safety and the RAF would now consider if any "further action" would be taken against them.
was served with a writ
by relatives of two of 14 men who died.
In March 2009 in response to the writ the Ministry of Defence admitted responsibility for the deaths of the 14 servicemen aboard Nimrod aircraft XV230, after two families brought a landmark legal action using human rights law. High Court papers submitted by the MoD in response to the claim accept for the first time that the reconnaissance aircraft, which exploded mid-air in Afghanistan, was "not airworthy". The papers add: "The defendant owed to the deceased a duty of care and the accident was caused by this breach of that duty of care."
Following the publication of the report by Charles Hadden-Cave QC a criminal investigation has been launched by Thames Valley Police in conjunction with the Health & Safety Executive and the Royal Military Police to establish whether it is appropriate to bring criminal proceedings against those named in the Hadden-Cave report.
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, the aircraft was handed over by the deputy managing director of Hawker Siddeley Aviation, Sir Harry Broadhurst
Harry Broadhurst
Air Chief Marshal Sir Harry Broadhurst GCB, KBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, AFC, RAF , commonly known as Broady, was a senior Royal Air Force commander.-Early life:...
. Receiving XV230 were the AOC-in Chief of Coastal Command, Air Marshal Sir John Lapsley
John Lapsley
Air Marshal Sir John Hugh Lapsley KBE, CB, DFC, AFC, RAF was a World War II fighter pilot and, later, a senior Royal Air Force commander.-RAF career:...
. At Sir Harry's invitation, Lady Lapsley performed the naming ceremony. Later in the day an RAF crew flew XV230 to its base at RAF St Mawgan, Cornwall, where the Nimrod maritime operational training unit (MOTD) was to be formed.
According to Jane's Information Group
Jane's Information Group
Jane's Information Group is a publishing company specializing in transportation and military topics.-History:It was founded by Fred T...
, XV230 was one of six Nimrods equipped with an L-3 Wescam
Wescam
L-3 Wescam is a Canadian company specializing in the production of gyro-stabilized, EO-IR imaging systems. Wescam products are currently used by defence, homeland security, and law enforcement agencies as well as in televised sporting events, such as NASCAR...
MX-15 electro-optical turret in 2003. In June/July 2006 XV230 was given the capability to transmit real-time video imagery from the MX-15 to ground stations and commanders. This was implemented under Project Broadsword.
During a reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....
flight it crashed in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
on 2 September 2006, killing 14 military personnel in Britain's deadliest single loss since the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
.
Crash details
The aircraft is believed to have suffered a leak during midair refuelling while it was monitoring a NATO offensive against Taliban insurgents west of Kandahar. The fuel appears to have leaked into the bomb bay where it caught fire, either as the result of an electrical fault or hot air leaking from a heating pipe.The pilot reported a fire in his bomb-bay. He tried to reach Kandahar air base, taking the aircraft down from 23,000 ft to 3,000 ft in 90 seconds. An RAF Harrier aircraft followed the Nimrod down and the pilot saw a wing explode, followed a few seconds later by the rest of the aircraft.
The crash site was about 25 miles WNW of Kandahar Airfield
Kandahar Airfield
Kandahar International Airport is located 10 miles south-east of Kandahar City in Afghanistan. The airport was built by the United States in the 1960s, under the United States Agency for International Development program. It may have been intended to be used as a possible U.S...
(which is located 16 kilometers south-east of the city of Kandahar
Kandahar
Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
) between two villages called Chil Khor and Fatehullah Qala in the Panjwaye District
Panjwaye District
Panjwai is a district in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. It is known as the birthplace of the Taliban. It is located about west of Kandahar city...
. Witnesses included local men Abdul Manan, Afshan Hararoot and Haji Eisamuddin.
Twelve RAF personnel, a Royal Marine and a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
soldier aboard the Nimrod MR2, XV230 were killed. The 12 RAF crew were all from No. 120 Squadron RAF
No. 120 Squadron RAF
No. 120 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operated the Nimrod MR2, based at RAF Kinloss, Moray, Scotland until the type's withdrawal in March 2010.-Formation in WWI:...
, based at RAF Kinloss
RAF Kinloss
RAF Kinloss is a Royal Air Force station near Kinloss, on the Moray Firth in the north of Scotland. It opened on 1 April 1939 and served as an RAF training establishment during the Second World War. After the war it was handed over to Coastal Command to watch over Russian ships and submarines in...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and the soldier and marine on board were serving with the Special Reconnaissance Regiment
Special Reconnaissance Regiment
The Special Reconnaissance Regiment or SRR is a Special Forces regiment of the British Armed Forces. It was established on 6 April 2005 and is part of the United Kingdom Special Forces under command Director Special Forces, alongside the Special Air Service , Special Boat Service and the Special...
A board of inquiry report was released in December 2007.
On 23 May 2008 the assistant deputy coroner for Oxfordshire, Andrew Walker, handed down a narrative ruling that it had "never been airworthy from the first time it was released to the service nearly 40 years ago".
"It seems to me that this is a case where I would be failing in my duty if I didn't report action to the relevant authority that would prevent future fatalities,"
"I have given the matter considerable thought and I see no alternative but to report to the secretary of state that the Nimrod fleet should not fly until the Alarp [as low as reasonably practicable] standards are met."
Controversy
There have been concerns in the British media about serviceability of the Nimrod fleet and bereaved families are having to wait for years for the Oxfordshire coroner's office to hold inquests into military deaths. ConservativeConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MP, Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger called for its replacement - the MRA4 - to be introduced quicker. The replacement aircraft has suffered significant problems during the development and construction which has resulted in lengthy programme delays and the in-service date slipping nine years from 2003 to 2012 (although the replacement has now been scrapped entirely following the 2010 strategic defence review).
Concerns were again raised when on Monday 5 November 2007, Nimrod XV235 was reported to have suffered a similar fuel leak. The aircraft landed safely. The MoD have since suspended all in-flight refuelling of the Nimrod fleet.
The Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
's Westminster leader, Angus Robertson
Angus Robertson
Angus Struan Carolus Robertson is the Scottish National Party Member of Parliament for Moray and is the SNP's Parliamentary Group Leader and spokesperson for foreign affairs and defence.Robertson was the Election Co-ordinator for the Scottish National party's successful 2007 and 2011 Scottish...
has criticised delays in inquiries. He said the wait for the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
inquiry and a coroner's inquest was a "disgrace" that dates have still to be set for the publication of the board of inquiry's findings and a coroner's inquest into the deaths. He was also quoted as saying Everybody's thoughts are with the families and friends of those who lost their lives. They are having to wait far too long to receive answers to many questions. A 12-month wait is a disgrace - Publication dates have been put back and put back and the Ministry of Defence should get on with it."
In March 2009, following continued questions about the safety of the Nimrod fleet and despite constantly stating that the aircraft were airworthy, the MOD grounded the Nimrod fleet for "vital safety modification[s]".
Concerns about the safety of the Nimrod fleet have continued to surface since the loss of XV230. In April 2009 it was reported that the Defence Minister had "glossed over Nimrod safety fears". The Independent newspaper claimed that a report into the safety of Britain's ageing fleet of Nimrod spy planes, which a defence minister claimed did not reveal "any significant airworthiness issues", exposed almost 1,500 faults – 26 of which threatened the aircraft's safety.
Board of Inquiry findings
On 4 December 2007 the report of the findings of the official Board of Inquiry into the loss of XV230 was published. The Board believed that the No 7 tank dry bay was the most likely location for the seat of the fire, with the most probable cause being escaped fuel contacting a Supplementary Conditioning Pack (SCP) airpipe at 400 degrees Celsius "...after entering a gap between two types of insulation". Four separate factors were listed as contributing to the accident : Age of the aircraft; Maintenance policy; Failure of hazard analysis and lack of a fire detection and suppression system; Not identifying the full implications of successive changes to the fuel system and associated procedures.Links into the full report on the XV230 accident can be found here
On 23 May 2008, the coroner who led the inquest into these deaths stated that the entire Nimrod fleet had "never been airworthy from the first time it was released to service" and urged that it should be grounded. Assistant deputy coroner for Oxfordshire Andrew Walker added: "This cavalier approach to safety must come to an end. There were failures...[in monitoring the aircraft's safety]...that should, if the information had been correctly recorded and acted upon, have led to the discovery of this design flaw within the Nimrod fleet."
Nimrod review
The Terms of Reference for the Nimrod Review were set out by the Secretary of State for Defence, Des BrowneDes Browne
Desmond Henry Browne, Baron Browne of Ladyton is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 1997 to 2010...
, on 13 December 2007.
It emerged in May 2009 that an RAF commander destroyed a number of official documents after the loss of Nimrod XV230. The Times newspaper, 31 May 2009, reported that all documents relating to the aircraft were immediately impounded but Sqn Ldr Guy Bazalgette, commander of the Nimrod detachment in the Gulf, managed to retrieve one file. Bazalgette subsequently destroyed the document but later told the coroners inquest that none of the shredded documents were relevant to the loss of XV230. However, Bazalgette admitted: “They should not have been shredded and it was my fault that they were.”
Also in May 2009, Charles Haddon-Cave, QC, leading the Nimrod Review issued a number of Salmon letters to organisations and senior RAF officers warning them they were likely to be criticised in its formal report. The so-called Salmon letters give those who are likely to be criticised by the inquiry the opportunity to respond to the criticism before the report’s publication. The MoD and the Nimrod inquiry team declined to say which senior RAF officers had received letters.
On October 28, Haddon-Cave presented his report, summarised by the statement:
The report:
- Accused the MoD of "deep organisational trauma" resulting from the strategic defence review of 1998
- Sacrificing safety to cut costs, resulting in a "systemic breach" of the military covenantMilitary CovenantThe Military Covenant is a term introduced in 2000 into British public life to refer to the mutual obligations between the nation and its Armed Forces....
- A safety review of the Nimrod MR2 carried out by the MoD, BAE Systems and QinetiQ branded a "lamentable job"
Mr Haddon-Cave condemned the change of organisational culture within the MoD between 1998 and 2006, when financial targets came to distract from safety, quoting a former senior RAF officer who told the inquiry:
Mr Haddon-Cave directly criticised 10 individuals in the report - five at the MoD, three at BAE Systems and two at QinetiQ - while throughout the review BAE Systems had been a company "in denial." Mr Haddon-Cave's report directly criticised two RAF officers:
- Air Commodore George Baber - a group captain at the time, led the MoD integrated project team responsible for a safety review of the RAF's Nimrods, which took place between 2001 and 2005. Mr Haddon-Cave accused Baber of a "fundamental failure of leadership" in drawing up the "safety case" into potential dangers in the fleet: "He failed to give the NSC (Nimrod safety case) the priority it deserved. In doing so, he failed, in truth, to make safety his first priority."
- Wing Commander Michael Eagles - then head of air vehicle for the Nimrod, Wing Cdr Eagles was supposed to be in charge of managing production of the safety review. The report found that he delegated the project "wholesale" to an MoD civilian worker who was too inexperienced and not competent to manage it: "Michael Eagles failed to give adequate priority, care and personal attention to the NSC task. He failed properly to utilise the resources available to him within the Nimrod IPT to ensure the airworthiness of the Nimrod fleet."
Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth
Bob Ainsworth
Robert William Ainsworth is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Coventry North East since 1992, and was the Secretary of State for Defence from 2009 to 2010...
said the "rigorous" report would make distressing reading for the relatives of those who died.
Mr Ainsworth told the Commons the two RAF officers had been moved to staff posts which held no responsibility for safety and the RAF would now consider if any "further action" would be taken against them.
Legal proceedings
In December 2008 the Defence Secretary John HuttonJohn Hutton (Labour MP)
John Matthew Patrick Hutton, Baron Hutton of Furness is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Barrow and Furness in Cumbria from 1992 to 2010, and has served in a number of Cabinet offices, including Defence Secretary and Business Secretary...
was served with a writ
Writ
In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court...
by relatives of two of 14 men who died.
In March 2009 in response to the writ the Ministry of Defence admitted responsibility for the deaths of the 14 servicemen aboard Nimrod aircraft XV230, after two families brought a landmark legal action using human rights law. High Court papers submitted by the MoD in response to the claim accept for the first time that the reconnaissance aircraft, which exploded mid-air in Afghanistan, was "not airworthy". The papers add: "The defendant owed to the deceased a duty of care and the accident was caused by this breach of that duty of care."
Following the publication of the report by Charles Hadden-Cave QC a criminal investigation has been launched by Thames Valley Police in conjunction with the Health & Safety Executive and the Royal Military Police to establish whether it is appropriate to bring criminal proceedings against those named in the Hadden-Cave report.
External links
- Post crash photograph of the tail section of XV230 released 1 November 2009
- The Nimrod Review: an independent review into the broader issues surrounding the loss of the RAF Nimrod MR2 aircraft XV230 in Afghanistan in 2006 report released 28 October 2009
- Summary of the BOI into the crash of XV230 on 2nd September 2006 from Target Lock website
- "Ainsworth apologises for loss of Nimrod XV230", highlights of Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth's statement in the House of Commons, released by UK Ministry of Defence 28 October 2009
- Pre-accident pictures of the aircraft
- BBC news Scotland East
- Fourteen personnel in Afghanistan Nimrod crash named
- Nimrod Crew Repatriated to RAF Kinloss
- Sky News report
- Memorial Garden to our Armed Forces
- On a Wing and a Prayer A BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
PanoramaPanorama (TV series)Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
investigation shown Monday 4 June 2007. - Q&A: Nimrod MR2 explosion Channel 4 news - 4 December 2007.