Nimrod has been in service for 30 years and replacement is overdue

The Nimrod has been a mainstay of the RAF's patrol bomber fleet since it replaced the Avro Shackleton in the early 1970s. But the aircraft is widely considered to be overdue for replacement.

The MR2 variant that crashed yesterday was due to be replaced by the MRA4, which is seven years behind schedule and, reportedly, pounds lbn over budget.

The Nimrod was based on the De Havilland

Comet, the world's first jet airliner, which was developed in the UK and introduced commercially in the 1950s. The MR2 is normally used for reconnaissance and maritime rescue, and has been a spy plane in the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns.

In peacetime the Nimrod has been most familiar as a search and rescue aircraft, involved in locating survivors, and was used in the Piper Alpha disaster. The crashed plane was based at RAF Kinloss, Scotland

While awaiting replacement by the MRA4, the MR2 was recently upgraded. The planes are loaded with state-of-the-art electronic detection technology and are powered by four Rolls-Royce Spey engines.

Nimrods were used in the Falklands and Bosnia, and monitored Russian naval movements in the Atlantic.

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