A ROYAL Air Force, RAF, spy plane sent to join the
international hunt for schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants has broken
down on the way. The Sentinel R1 was forced to divert to Senegal with a
“technical issue” and will be grounded until repairs have been completed.Sentinel
aircraft from Royal Air Force, Waddington in Lonconshire being prepared for
operation in Nigeria, yesterdayThe unexpected delay is a repeat of last year’s
embarrassment for the UK Ministry of Defence when a C-17 transporter sent to
help French troops in Mali was also temporarily grounded by technical trouble.
David Cameron offered the Sentinel to the Nigerian government to use its
advanced ground scanning radar to hunt for more than 200 school girls abducted
from a school hostel last month.The modified executive business jet left RAF
Waddington on Sunday bound for its new base in Accra in Ghana, where it will be
stationed while flying across northern Nigeria. However, the crew reported
technical problems midway through the flight. An RAF source said: “We had a
choice of turning around and coming home, or landing en route.” It was unclear
last night when the jet would be able to resume its flight and travel the
remaining 1,300 miles to Accra.The RAF has lost more than 8,000 airmen in
defence cuts since 2010, while having to keep aircraft flying in operations in
Afghanistan and elsewhere. A recent air safety watchdog report warned the cuts
and a shortage of skilled technicians were increasing the risk of accidents.The
captives are believed to have been driven into the nearby Sambisa Forest, and
there are unconfirmed reports some have been forced to marry militant fighters
in mass weddings and others have been smuggled across the border to Cameroon.
Nigeria’s military says near-daily aerial bombardments of the forest that began
in mid-January were stopped to avoid accidentally hitting the girls
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