Brimstone missiles fall off British fighter jet in Cyprus air force base
Two Brimstone missiles, worth £105,000 (about $165,000) each, have fallen off a British Tornado fighter jet as it landed at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Akrotiri base in southern Cyprus, officials say.
"While landing on the runway from an operational flight, two Brimstone missiles detached from the GR4 aircraft. They did not detonate and no injuries happened,” RAF spokesman Kristian Gray said on Wednesday.
Following the accident, the runway at the base -- located on the outskirts of the southern coastal town of Limassol -- was closed down until British Defense Ministry personnel removed the projectiles.
"To the best of our knowledge this is the first time this has happened, the causes are still not clear and are under investigation," Gray added.
According to an RAF source, poor visibility in the region may have caused the aircraft to hit the ground at a wrong angle, making the missiles detach from the mounting brackets.
Brimstones are specifically designed to track and destroy moving targets such as tanks or other vehicles with a capability of hitting a car moving at over 110 kilometers per hour (70 miles per hour) from more than 10 kilometers (six miles) away.
Akrotiri is one of the UK’s largest air force stations situated on foreign soil. Britain claims to use it as a staging post for attacks and surveillance operations against ISIL Takfiri terrorists in Iraq.
The US and some of its allies, including the UK, have been conducting airstrikes purportedly against ISIL positions in Iraq since early August 2014. ISIL militants have overrun swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, where they are engaged in various crimes against humanity.
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