Safety concerns have prompted moves to significantly reorganise UK Iplans to upgrade Royal Air Force (RAF) British Aerospace Nimrod R.1 electronic intelligence (ELINT)-gathering aircraft and to start efforts to find an alternative platform. The loss of a RAF Nimrod MR.2 maritime patrol aircraft - which has the same airframe as the R. 1 variant - in a mid-air fire over Afghanistan in September 2006 was subsequently linked by investigators to safety problems with the aircraft's fuel systems. Jane's understands that this has forced the UK to think again about the GBP400 million (USD786 million) Project Helix to sustain the three-strong Nimrod R. 1 fleet in service until 2025.
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