Defence

A US Air Force Rockwell/North American B-1B bomber was damaged after catching fire on a runway late today in Qatar.

“A US Air Force B-1, while taxiing after landing at al-Udeid Air Base, Qatar, was involved in a ground incident and caught fire,” a spokesman for the Coalition Air Operations Center at the base told FlightGlobal.com.

The crew evacuated the aircraft and is “safe”, he added.

No details about the cause of the fire were released. A board of inquiry has been appointed to investigate the incident.

The B-1B fleet has been stung by a rash of landing incidents since last month.

On 7 March, a B-1B crashed into emergency vehicles after sliding off a runway at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam. Two weeks later, a B-1B landing in South Dakota reportedly set off several grass fires near the runway, although no cause for the fires has been released.