Plans to fit Moray-based RAF Tornado jets with a potentially life-saving crash warning system have been hit by fresh delays, it can be revealed.
Defence chiefs had promised that the anti-collision system would be installed in the aircraft by the end of this year, having been first identified in 1990 but repeatedly shelved.
The pledge was reiterated in July, after a scathing report into the 2012 crash involving two RAF Lossiemouth Tornado GR4s over the Moray Firth found the failure to fit the technology contributed to the deaths of three crew.
But the Press and Journal can reveal today that the deadline will almost certainly be missed because trials of the equipment have found a “number of issues” that will lead to “revised timescales”.
Angus Robertson, the Moray MP and SNP defence spokesman, discovered the latest delay after tabling questions in Westminster.
The questions have also revealed that the MoD has already spent £49.7million developing the system.
In response to a query about the equipment, Defence Minister Philip Dunne said: “Flight trials of the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System II in two Tornado aircraft during 2014 have revealed a number of issues that require resolution before the system can be rolled-out across the fleet.
“It is not possible to give an indication of revised timescales until the scope of the additional work has been properly assessed.”
Tornado jets are currently involved in UK military action against the IS terror group in Iraq.
Many of the aircraft at Lossiemouth have now been replaced by Typhoon jets, but a Tornado training squadron is still based in Moray.
Mr Robertson said: “This further delay is the latest broken promise in a long running and scandalous situation.
“It is utterly unacceptable that the timetable for installing a collision warning system has slipped further.
“The publication this summer of the Military Aviation Authority report into the tragic fatal collision over the Moray Firth highlighted a chain of bad decisions based on cost-benefit-analysis which is completely wrong when we are talking about service personnel’s lives.
“Now that the MoD has extended the life of the Tornado’s after their botched Defence Review it is even more imperative that these systems which were recommended over 15 years ago are finally installed.”
The Military Aviation Authority’s inquiry into the 2012 crash found 17 factors contributed to the deaths of Flight Lieutenant Adam Sanders, Squadron Leader Samuel Bailey and Flight Lieutenant Hywel Poole.