§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)My right honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ivor Caplin) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement
The Ministry of Defence has today placed in the Library of the House copies of the Military Aircraft Accident Summary of the RAF Board of Inquiry into the accident to Tornado GR4A ZG710, which was shot down during Operation TELIC by a US Patriot Battery on 22 March 2003.
The Board of Inquiry found that the immediate cause of the accident was that the Patriot Battery, in following its self-defence rules of engagement, misidentified Tornado ZG710 as a hostile anti-radiation missile and engaged it. However, like most aircraft accidents, no single cause was to blame. There were several contributory factors. These included the failure of the Tornado's IFF (Identification Friend or Foe), the wide classification criteria for anti-radiation missiles programmed into Patriot system and the Patriot Rules of Engagement, which were not sufficiently robust to prevent a friendly aircraft without a functioning IFF system being classified as an anti-radiation missile.
The war in Iraq was completed in a highly efficient and effective manner, for which all those involved must take great credit. As part of that campaign, the crew of ZG710 conducted a dangerous and demanding combat mission in an exemplary manner yet did not return safely. ZG710 was the only Royal Air Force aircraft lost during the war. The Board of Inquiry has established the causes of this tragic accident and has highlighted the various factors that contributed to it. The board's recommendations are now being implemented.