RAF jet shot down by US missile

A missing RAF aircraft returning from an operation in the Gulf may have been shot down by a US Patriot missile.

The British Ministry of Defence said there was no immediate news of whether the crew survived and described them as missing.

Group Captain Al Lockwood, spokesman for British forces in the Gulf, said evidence suggested the plane was engaged by a US Patriot missile battery, in an apparent incident of so-called friendly fire.

He said: "We try hard to keep friendly fire incidents to a minimum and we'll be very keen to investigate this with our US colleagues to find out exactly what went wrong."

It is thought the plane came down in Kuwait but no details of the type of aircraft or its mission have been released.

Asked if the latest apparent accident meant that Britain had made a bad start to the campaign, Lockwood said: "It's not one we would have chosen."

But he pointed to the huge number of aircraft movements in the area.

"This, you must remember, is high intensity conflict. This is war, it's not training. We have had an enormous number of aircraft movements over the last three days. Operations have been virtually continuous."

Patriot missile launchers are designed to provide air defence, shooting down everything from ballistic missiles to low-flying cruise missiles.

The incident was the latest to hit the estimated 45,000 British forces in the Gulf.

On Saturday, two British Royal Navy Sea King helicopters collided over the Gulf, killing the six British and one American.

The previous day, eight British Royal Marines and four American Marines died when their CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed before dawn in Kuwait.