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British plane shot down by US
23/03/2003 22:57 - (SA)
Camp As-Sayliyah, Qatar - A British Air Force Tornado jet was shot down by a US Patriot missile on Sunday in the first reported incident of "friendly" fire since the Iraq war was launched four days ago, British officials said.
"We can confirm that a Tornado GR4 aircraft from RAF Marham returning from an operational mission was engaged near the Kuwaiti border by a Patriot missile battery. The crew are listed as missing."
The Tornado GR4 is a two-seat supersonic attack plane.
Air Marshal Brian Burridge, commander of the British troops in the Gulf, speaking from Central Command in Qatar, confirmed that the aircraft came down close to the Kuwaiti border and said coalition forces were now "deeply engaged" in a search.
"This is a sad moment but we will put it behind us as quickly as we can in a military sense and carry on to our objective," he said.
Group Captain Al Lockwood, spokesperson for British forces in the Gulf, said: "We try hard to keep friendly fire incidents to a minimum and we'll be very keen to investigate this with our US colleagues to find out the reason.
Asked if the latest apparent accident meant that Britain had made a bad start to the campaign, Lockwood said: "It's not one we would have chosen."
But he pointed to the huge number of aircraft movements in the area.
"This, you must remember, is high intensity conflict. This is war, it's not training. We have had an enormous number of aircraft movements over the last three days. Operations have been virtually continuous."
Patriot missile launchers are designed to provide air defence, shooting down everything from ballistic missiles to low-flying cruise missiles.
The incident was the latest to hit the estimated 45 000 British forces in the Gulf.
On Saturday, two British Royal Navy Sea King helicopters collided over the Gulf, killing the six British and one American.
The previous day, eight British Royal Marines and four American Marines died when their CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed before dawn in Kuwait.
In the 1991 Gulf War, nine UK soldiers were killed by their US allies - the same number as killed by enemy fire.
- Reuters
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