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Failure of a vital electronic system on both an RAF Tornado and a US missile battery contributed to a fatal "friendly fire" incident in Iraq.
Tornado crew Flt Lt Kevin Main and Flt Lt David Williams were killed when the Patriot missile downed their aircraft.
Electronics which identified the Tornado GR4, based at RAF Marham in Norfolk, as "friendly" had failed, an RAF board of inquiry has found.
The missile battery then misidentified the plane as an enemy rocket.
In a written ministerial statement, defence minister Ivor Caplin said there were several contributory factors to the accident in March 2003.
These included the failure of the Tornado's "identification friend or foe" (IFF) system.
Other factors included the "wide classification criteria" for anti-radiation missiles programmed into the Patriot system.
BBC Read More
Tornado crew Flt Lt Kevin Main and Flt Lt David Williams were killed when the Patriot missile downed their aircraft.
Electronics which identified the Tornado GR4, based at RAF Marham in Norfolk, as "friendly" had failed, an RAF board of inquiry has found.
The missile battery then misidentified the plane as an enemy rocket.
In a written ministerial statement, defence minister Ivor Caplin said there were several contributory factors to the accident in March 2003.
These included the failure of the Tornado's "identification friend or foe" (IFF) system.
Other factors included the "wide classification criteria" for anti-radiation missiles programmed into the Patriot system.
BBC Read More
