Crash Nimrod XV230 du 6 septembre 2006

MoD responds to damning report into loss of Nimrod XV230
By Craig Hoyle

Industry and military officials have received fresh criticism over the mid-air explosion of a Royal Air Force British Aerospace Nimrod MR2 surveillance aircraft in Afghanistan in 2006, following the publication of an independent review into the mishap.

Fourteen UK personnel died when Nimrod XV230 crashed after catching fire immediately after in-flight refuelling, a procedure that has been halted with the RAF's remaining examples of the type.

Charles Haddon-Cave QC was asked to head a review into the Nimrod's airworthiness and safe operation, with his mandate stretching back to the type's introduction to service in 1979.

In his 587-page report, Haddon-Cave criticises the Ministry of Defence's "leadership, culture and priorities" with regard to aircraft safety. He also slams the quality of a safety case assessment performed by BAE Systems between 2001 and 2005 and validated by Qinetiq.




Design flaws with the Nimrod stretch back over four decades


The report says flaws with the Nimrod's bleed air duct design were found to date to 1969, and that a near-catastrophic incident involving another Nimrod in 2004 "should have been a wake-up call" for the RAF and the MoD.

The safety review was "seriously defective", and "a lamentable job from start to finish", it says, adding: "It missed the key dangers." The report also criticises a "shift in culture and priorities in the MoD towards business and financial targets, at the expense of safety and airworthiness".

Responding to the report on 28 October, defence secretary Bob Ainsworth said: "Based on the steps we have taken, I am certain the Nimrod remains safe to fly." The MoD will consider the report's recommendations and make a full reply by year-end, he adds. However, it has already acted by creating the new post of defence chief airworthiness engineer, who it says will be responsible "for assuring the airworthiness of our aircraft".

Separately, the MoD has announced its intention to award BAE contracts to dispose of the RAF's remaining Nimrod MR2s and three Nimrod R1 electronic intelligence aircraft, and to provide in-service support for its new fleet of nine Nimrod MRA4s.




Nine Nimrod MRA4s will eventually enter service


The support deal for the MRA4 should be signed next February, with the agreement's planned first three phases to cover the type's initial 11 years of use. Operations with the MR2 will cease by 31 March 2011.

The fall-out from the Haddon-Cave report into the loss of a Royal Air Force Nimrod goes on.

Technology company Qinetiq has picked former high court judge Robert Nelson to lead a formal investigation into the report’s conclusions and recommendations and has suspended its two employees named in the report on full pay while this is undertaken. The suspensions are believed to be a procedural process

The Haddon-Cave report into the loss of all 14 personnel onboard an RAF Nimrod MR2 in Afghanistan in September 2006 is highly critical of the Defense Ministry, BAE Systems, and Qinetiq over what it argues was a range of serious failings.

John Chisholm, Qinetiq chairman said: “The Board believes that input from an independent third party will provide important impetus to our analysis of the lessons to be learned from the Haddon-Cave report. Sir Robert has the experience and expertise to oversee this process and the Board looks forward to reviewing his preliminary recommendations before the end of the year.”

Qinetiq acted as independent advisor for the Nimrod safety case drawn up by BAE Systems and the Defense Ministry Nimrod Integrated Project Team between 2001-05.

Charles Haddon-Cave was appointed by then Secretary of State For Defense Des Browne to lead an independent inquiry into the loss of the Nimrod in December 2007. His highly critical report was published last month.

“The Nimrod Safety Case was a lamentable job from start to finish. It was riddled with errors. It missed the key dangers,” the report contends.

“Its production is a story of incompetence, complacency, and cynicism. The best opportunity to prevent the accident to XV230 (the Nimrod aircraft involved) was, tragically lost”

In the report Haddon-Cave named individuals from BAE, the Defense Ministry, and Qinetiq: “whose conduct , in my view, fell well below the standards which might reasonably have been expected of them at the time, given their rank, roles and responsibilities, such that, in my view, they should be held personally to account.”

Haddon-Cave claimed that “Qinetiq’s approach was fundamentally lax and compliant” with regard to its role in the Nimrod Safety Case.