THE defence secretary, Des Browne, is facing accusations that the government has put cost-cutting before the welfare of the services by failing to remedy safety faults that led to a Nimrod spy plane blowing up over Afghanistan.

The Sunday Times has established that a fleet of refurbished Nimrods will contain the same ageing and leaking fuel systems that caused last year’s disaster in which 14 crew died.

The decision to keep the system, which will reduce the cost of the revamped jets, comes despite repetitions of the leaks that caused the explosion. A Nimrod returned to base recently with seven tons of fuel “sloshing around” after it leaked into its bomb bay.

Andy Knight, whose brother Sergeant Ben Knight, 25, was one of the men killed, said: “The Ministry of Defence was prepared to risk the loss of a £70m-plus jet and its crew, rather than spending the money needed to make the fleet safe.

“I have seen nothing since the accident that suggests it has changed its stance.”

Graham Knight, the father of Ben, from Bridgwater, Somerset, blamed Gordon Brown, the chancellor, for “the cost-cutting imposed by the MoD not funding the military”.

The Nimrod controversy will add to the pressure on Browne following the row over his decision to allow sailors and marines captured by Iran to sell their stories.

Nimrod XV230, which was based at RAF Kinloss, Moray-shire, in northeast Scotland, exploded in September over Kandahar province. The accident was caused by pressure building up during air-to-air refuelling. The leaking fuel ignited and the fire spread to one of the tanks.

Despite a preliminary inquiry uncovering the basic cause, the aircraft are still being flown over Afghanistan and Iraq.

An RAF board of inquiry is still preparing its final report on the incident. But according to defence sources:

-There have been repeated further leaks since last September’s accident.

-The same ageing air-to-air refuelling systems that caused the leak will remain in the fuselages of the Nimrods after their refurbishment by BAE Systems without any tests to “qualify” them as safe.

-The fuel pipes that leaked are single skin unlike all modern versions, which are double skin.

-The same leaking single-skin pipes will remain on the revamped Nimrods to save money in a move described by one pilot as “totally reckless”.

-There are no plans to fit the Nimrod’s wing fuel tanks with foam that would have prevented the explosion, even though foam is being fitted to the RAF’s Hercules aircraft.

-The problems have led to widespread disillusionment among crews. So many ground crew have left that the Ministry of Defence is advertising on the internet for civilian technicians in five different specialities to work at Kinloss.

NetJets, a corporate aircraft company that has opened a new crew base at Aberdeen, held a recruitment roadshow at a hotel in nearby Elgin and found many Nimrod pilots were prepared to resign to join the company.

The MoD said there was a “retention issue” at Kinloss but blamed it on financial rather than safety concerns.

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