XV179
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On September 18, 2006, The United Kingdom's Channel 4 News aired an article criticizing the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) for having only fitted 1 C-130 Hercules with a foam suppressant system which could well have prevented the loss of aircraft XV179, which was shot down in January 2005, killing all 10 on board.
[edit] Background
On January 30, 2005, RAF Hercules XV179 took off from Bagdhad at 1622 GMT. Six minutes later it reported a fire on board, and it was reported missing 24 minutes later. Subsequent investigations revealed that the aircraft had been shot down by ground fire, a bullet had entered the starboard wing fuel tank, causing a fire which bought the aircraft down. An internal RAF investigation concluded that a foam suppressant system might have prevented the loss of the aircraft and that 'as a matter of urgency' all aircraft exposed to such risks shuld be fitted, at a cost of £600,000 each. When channel four's report aired, only one had been completed and it was still in the UK. None of the Hercules operating in Iraq or Afghanistan were fitted with the system.
[edit] Controversy
It is standard for all United States Air Force (USAF) and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Hercules aircraft to be fitted with the foam system. Pilots from those Air Forces serving on exchange have expressed grave concerns about the safety of RAF Hercules, as have RAF pilots themselves from before this incident. Following the deaths of soldiers in Iraq due to the lack of body armour, this is seen by many as symptomatic of British armed forces not receiving enough funding to do the government's bidding and servicemen are dying as a result.
Having decided that the system was needed, the MOD vicariously admitted liability for the deaths of the 10 on board, according to Phil Shiner, a solicitor for Public Interest Layers, when interviewed by Channel 4.
Air Marshall Sir John Baird, in writing to a relative of a killed sericeman called the situation a national disgrace, he said fitting the foam system now was 'too little, too late'. The current Chief of the Air Staff, Sir Glen Torpy stated in writing to a relative of one killed stated that all British servicemen are given all necessary safety equipment to do their mission and that 'until the loss of XV179, the Hercules aircraft was not judged vulnerable to this kind of attack', though quite why such aircraft take the evasive flight manouvres they do when flying in these areas was not alluded to. It was also noted in the program that XV179 was not the first Hercules flying in Iraq to be hit in the fuel tank by ground fire.
No one from the MOD was available to be interviewed by Channel 4 news, though a statement was issued:
"Our aircraft are fitted with defence and survivability aids to reflect the operational environment in which they are deployed, however, no operational flying can ever be risk free. Since the loss of XV179 the MOD has started fuel tank inerting as a matter of urgency and we have decided to fit the explosive suppressant foam to some of our aircraft. The first aircraft is now fully fitted."
[edit] Summary
The controversy is mainly to do with the perception that the robust, interventionist forign policy of Tony Blair's government is being done on the cheap and the result is defence budgets and operations being overstretched and British servicemen and women dying through a lack of equipment their coalition contemporaries take as standard. Families of the dead are still campaigning for justice.
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