WRT XV179. The risk to the fuel tanks was known at Group level but not passed down to Sqn level. If the Sqns had been informed in the correct manner tactics, in this case day low level, could have been changed to mitigate the threat. We did this in the slick frames in Afg 2001/2. We flew at night with NVGs,( but that was because we had no defences at all). Group could then have worked on getting foam fitted to the highest priority airframes first and when the threat had been mitigated with equipment, tactics could have been relaxed again. As it was, group neither informed the sqns nor requested foam through DEC/ITPL. Interestingly since the crash, day low level ceased immediately.
Sometimes it is not possible to mitigate a threat, could be the defensive system is simply not practical. In which case it should be entered on the hazard log and often times technology advances and new systems are developed. I am thinking now of OBIGGS, which is now being used in civilian airliners.
Regarding Snatch Landrovers, there is already an ongoing legal case.
Edited to add vulnerability analysis was carried out for both Iraq and Afghanistan and resilted in a High Rec for foam, but 2 Gp parked the rec and the threat info.
Last edited by nigegilb; 3rd Oct 2010 at 20:19.