MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

RAF Nimrods withdrawn from overseas operations

Britain’s Royal Air Force fleet of Nimrod surveillance planes, some of which were involved in the 1982 Falkland Islands conflict, has been temporarily withdrawn from operations overseas, almost a year after a coroner called for the aircraft to be grounded because of safety concerns.

Defence minister Bob Ainsworth said delays in safety modifications - ordered following a crash which killed 14 servicemen in Afghanistan in 2006 - meant the aircraft would not be used abroad between March 31 and the early summer, while routine flights in the UK will be reduced.

But he insisted the ageing fleet of 15 planes, some of which are approaching 40 years old, remained “airworthy and safe to fly”.

The father of Sergeant Ben Knight, who died when Nimrod XV230 exploded in mid-air near Kandahar, said Monday's decision was a “vindication” of families' demands for the planes to be grounded.

Graham Knight, of Bridgwater in Somerset, accused the Ministry of Defence of compromising safety by rejecting coroner Andrew Walker's finding last May that the Nimrod fleet should be kept on the ground until a “serious design flaw” had been rectified. A board of inquiry into the crash found it was caused when leaking fuel came into contact with a hot-air pipe after mid-air refuelling, and recommended the replacement of fuel seals and engine bay ducts.

In a written statement to Parliament, Mr Ainsworth said the modifications were due to have been completed by the end of this month, but had been delayed because of “problems with the provision of replacement fuel seals”.

Technical experts have advised the MoD that in order to keep risk “as low as reasonably practical”, no Nimrods should fly after the end of this month unless their hot air ducts have been replaced. In order to achieve this, the aircraft will be withdrawn from service overseas, including in Afghanistan, for a period of months.

Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said: “It beggars belief that even after 18 months, the MoD and its contractors has failed to modify these aircraft which are undertaking critical surveillance operations in Afghanistan.

”It is a further example of the complete inability of this Government to get a grip on their defence procurement program“.

And Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said the announcement amounted to ”an admission by the Government that the Nimrod fleet is not safe to fly, and has not been for years”