La RAF paraliza los vuelos del Nimrod por problemas de seguridad/RAF grounds new Nimrods as safety fears hit £3.6bn project

Los vuelos de la nueva versión del Nimrod de reconocimiento para la RAF han sido cesados debido a graves problemas técnicos, en el recuerdo del accidente de un Nimrod en Afganistán, y que costó la vida a 14 personas. El programa podría llegar a a ser cancelado por esta razón.
La RAF, el Ministerio de Defensa y BAE Systems fueron sancionados y acusados de no invertir lo suficiente en seguridad.
Se supone que el Nimrod MRA4 es un salto tecnológico, pero el programa se encuentra con problemas técnicos constantemente.
Un Nimrod ya ha sido entregado a la RAF, los otros ocho están en la factoría de BAE Systems.
Si el programa se cancela, Reino Unido dejará de disponer de aviones con capacidad de detectar submarinos.
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The RAFs new Nimrod reconnaissance planes have been grounded over safety worries, leading to fears that the £3.6 billion project might be shelved.
It comes against a background of accidents that led to the loss of 14 servicemen in a mid-air explosion over Afghanistan in 2006 when fuel from the tanks of a Nimrod MR2 leaked into hot air ducts.
The RAF, Ministry of Defence and BAE Systems were castigated in last year’s Haddon-Cave report into the crash, which accused them of putting budget targets ahead of safety.
It came after the entire Nimrod MR2 fleet was grounded by the MoD following further safety fears.
Although the new Nimrod MRA4 is supposed to be a step-change in technology it has stopped flying for the last four weeks after MoD inspectors detected a problem.
One Nimrod had already been handed over to the RAF but the other eight remain with the manufacturers, BAE Systems, until the problem is rectified.
RAF chiefs are now worried that the problem might be used to cancel the programme in the defence review because it was “tarnished” by the image of the earlier Nimrod.
If the project is cancelled it will also have implications for Britain’s nuclear deterrent as the Nimrod has systems that can detect submarines.
The Daily Telegraph reported in August that a Russian hunter-killer submarine had tailed the Trident boats from their Faslane base shortly after the previous Government retired the Nimrod MR2’s earlier this year.
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