14 servicemen were killed in September 2006 when the RAF Nimrod XV230 they were travelling in exploded mid-air.

The inquest into the RAF Nimrod case in which 14 servicemen were killed in Afghanistan in September 2006 has concluded with the coroner urging that the entire fleet “should be grounded”.

Assistant Deputy Coroner for Oxfordshire, Andrew Walker, described the aircraft fleet as having “never been airworthy” when reaching the verdict at the Oxford hearing.

All 14 men on board died when the RAF Nimrod XV230 exploded mid-air in Afghanistan on 2 September 2006 after undertaking air-to-air refuelling. The majority of those killed were from 120 Squadron based at RAF Kinloss in Forres, Scotland.

In a statement released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) today, Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Bob Ainsworth MP, apologised to the families of those who died “for our failings which led to this tragic incident.”

Ainsworth has however defended the MoD’s decision not to ground the fleet. He said: “I have noted the coroner’s comments and I will consider them carefully. The Nimrod is saving lives in operational theatres every day. However, if it was not safe we would not be flying it; it is safe with the measures we have taken and that is why we will not be grounding the fleet.”

In the same statement, Air Marshal Sir Barry Thornton, Chief of Materiel (Air), said the MoD has stopped air-to-air refuelling and no longer uses very hot air systems in flight.

“This eradicates any dangers from the serious design failures noted by the coroner that have been present in this aircraft since the 1980s,” he added. “These measures have been supplemented with enhanced aircraft maintenance and inspection procedures to ensure the aircraft, as it is today, is safe to fly.”

The families of the servicemen killed have reacted with fury to the Government’s decision not to ground the fleet. 

By Natasha Piscitelli