Aldrich also describes how in 2008 “RAF aircraft with similar [cell phone interception] equipment began circling over British cities searching for returned Afghan fighters. Their brief was to seek out suspects using ‘voice prints’ of fighters with British accents that had been collected by the Nimrods from Taliban battlefield communications.”

Aldrich describes the use of small aircraft to collect cellphone traffic from entire cities as a technique used since 1993. (p.538)

Several relatives claiming compensation after 14 servicemen were killed in a Nimrod plane explosion in Afghanistan have received payouts, the MoD says.

The amount of money paid was not disclosed but was paid over the past few weeks and months.

The payout came two years after the families launched a legal action.

Earlier reports that all cases had been settled have since been denied, with one law firm saying it still has claims outstanding, which the MoD confirmed.

In most cases several family members are making a claim, and in some families not all relatives have settled with the MoD. Cases relating to three servicemen have yet to be concluded.

The crash of a British Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 fighter jet is the latest in a series of aircraft crashes in Afghanistan. Helicopters in particular are especially key for operations there, and the loss of two civilian-operated helicopters and significant losses of life in the last week raise questions about the status and availability of rotary-wing fleets in the country.

Though the days of the P-3C Orion are coming to a close, their capabilities are still essential. The U.S. Navy is set to buy more than 100 new P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft from Boeing to replace the aging Orions, and hopes to have at least 40 deployable at any one time, with the first squadron operational in the next five years. Airborne assets are still an essential component of ASW. But the volume simply is not there in the North Atlantic to warrant a footprint in Iceland. In fact, the closest Orion base in the United States, NAS Brunswick in Maine, will be closed by 2011 and its assets transferred to NAS Jacksonville in Florida. Even though Canada maintains its own CP-140 Auroras (their designation for the P-3) at Canadian Forces Base Greenwood in Nova Scotia, this makes clear in no unequivocal terms what the United States thinks of the threat of a massive assault from the Russian navy. Its closest permanently stationed airborne ASW assets will be in New Jersey.

By Peter Jackson
BBC News

“Spy planes” that could help combat roadside bombs from seven-and-a-half miles above the ground have just entered squadron service after successful trials in Afghanistan. How effective would they be in fighting the Taleban and saving lives?

At almost £1bn for five, the Sentinel R1 jet does not come cheap, but the Ministry of Defence (MoD) hopes its latest “eye in the sky” will have a real impact.

The twin-engined plane carries some of the world’s most sophisticated radar equipment, allowing it to detect and track enemy movement over huge areas.

The RAF’s entire Nimrod fleet has “never been airworthy”, a coroner says at an inquest into 14 servicemen’s deaths.

In UK

An RAF crash in Afghanistan which killed 14 people was probably caused by a fuel leak, an inquiry finds.

Now, a decade after it should have been replaced, it is being asked to conduct surveillance missions over Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is flying longer hours in harsher conditions than ever before. And John Blakeley, a retired senior RAF engineer, says the resources need to keep it flying safely simply are not there.”

“Fresh fears have arisen about the safety of an ageing model of RAF reconnaissance plane, following an incident in southern Afghanistan.

On Monday a Nimrod surveillance aircraft sent out a mayday call after crew members spotted fuel spraying into an empty bomb bay.

The crew’s log, leaked to the BBC, reported the bomb bay doors “to be wet with fuel”. The aircraft landed safely.

The MoD says a full investigation into the incident is being carried out.”

ISAF’s role is to assist the Government of Afghanistan and the international community in maintaining security within the force’s area of operations. ISAF supports the Afghan Government in expanding its authority across the country, and in providing a safe and secure environment conducive to democratic governance, the spread of the rule of law and reconstruction.