Military chiefs have insisted they are working to “iron out” problems with a long-awaited anti-crash system being installed in RAF Lossiemouth fighter jets.
Defence Minister Philip Dunne said the technology was “exceptionally complicated” to develop when he was quizzed on the progress by Moray MP Angus Robertson in the Commons yesterday.
The failure to install a collision warning system was found to be one of the factors which contributed to the 2012 Tornado crash over the Moray Firth, which killed three Lossiemouth airmen and injured a fourth.
Parliamentary questions tabled by Mr Robertson have revealed that it has now been installed in eight Tornado jets, but is not yet functioning properly.
Plans to fit the system to Typhoon jets remain at an early stage.
Raising the issue during defence questions at Westminster yesterday, Mr Robertson said: “Three of my constituents from RAF Lossiemouth were killed and a fourth was seriously injured when two Tornados collided above the Moray Firth.
“That occurred nearly 20 years after the Ministry of Defence recommended the installation of collision warning systems.
“Is it really true that only eight out of 100 Tornado aircraft have had such a system installed, that they are not fully operational, and there are no concrete plans for such a system to be installed in the Typhoon fleet?”
Mr Dunne, the minister for defence equipment, defended the delays, saying the technology would be among the most advanced of its kind in the world.
Responding to Mr Robertson, the Conservative MP said: “The honourable gentleman has raised this subject many times in this House.
“He knows full well from the many answers I’ve given him to parliamentary questions that a TCAS (traffic collision avoidance system) to be involved in the Tornado fleet will be the first combat jet fleet anywhere in the world to have such a system.
“Systems are provided for civil airline fleets, with success. Introducing such a system into a combat jet environment is exceptionally complicated.
“I can confirm that currently eight aircraft have been fitted with a system. We are working to iron out some of the residual issues with that system as we install it across the Tornado fleet.”
Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon confirmed yesterday that the MoD was fast-tracking plans to fit Brimstone missiles to the Typhoon fleet.
The system is currently being used by RAF Tornados in operations against the ISIS terror group in Iraq.
Mr Fallon said: “We are accelerating the integration of those weapons with Typhoon, which will improve its attractiveness as an export and pick up on some of the lessons we have learnt from the campaign in Iraq.”