MORE PICTURES: UK's first Nimrod MRA4s scrapped after £4bn investment

With work to scrap the UK's BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol aircraft having started at the company's Woodford site in Cheshire earlier this week, widespread criticism of the decision has mounted.

BBC footage aired on 25 January showed sections of at least three airframes being destroyed using an excavator and highlighted the coalition government's stark decision to cancel the MRA4 programme, despite past investment worth more than £4 billion ($6.38 billion).

A BAE representative of the Unite union at Woodford described the procedure as an act of "barbaric vandalism". Continue reading..

• Flightglobal and wider web content about the Nimrod aircraft 
• Saying goodbye to the mighty hunter

 Picture credit: PA Photos