BAE Systems has "apologised unreservedly" for the procedural flaws made during a safety review conducted on the UK Royal Air Force's Nimrod surveillance aircraft fleet earlier this decade.
The company's action comes after it was subjected to fresh criticism through an independent review held into the cause behind the loss of Nimrod MR2 XV230 over southern Afghanistan in September 2006.
Fourteen UK personnel died when the nearly 40-year-old aircraft exploded in mid-air following a catastrophic fire that broke out shortly after in-flight refuelling.
Published on 29 October, an independent report headed by Charles Haddon-Cave QC described BAE's safety study into the ageing Nimrod as "a lamentable job from start to finish", and said earlier safety scares should have alerted it to the design flaws that ultimately resulted in disaster.
"We acknowledge that there were a number of failings in our application of our internal processes and procedures during the course of work undertaken as part of the Nimrod safety review," BAE says. "We accept full responsibility for these failings and apologise unreservedly for them."
BAE says safety issues outlined in a 2007 Board of Inquiry report into the Nimrod crash have already been implemented, but adds: "Our priority is to identify areas for further improvements to the management of safety and risk."
Qinetiq was also criticised in the report for failing to properly scrutinise BAE's safety audit of the Nimrod. Chief executive Graham Love stood down from his post on 29 October, and will be replaced by Leo Quinn, with effect from 30 November.
Source: Flight International
