Tornado Hits Dog On Return From Mission

The Ministry of Defence have confirmed that a RAF Tornado aircraft hit a stray dog while landing at RAF Akrotiri.

The incident occurred as the GR4 fighter jet returned to the airfield in Cyprus, home of the Royal Air Force's Op Shader mission tasked with destroying Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria. 

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Contrary to tabloid newspaper reports, an RAF Spokesman told Forces TV that the Tornado was not travelling at 200mph at the time nor was thousands of pounds of damage caused.

Rather "there was minimal damage to the aircraft which has returned to service". It's understood the all-weather attack aircraft was out of service for 24 hours while it underwent an undercarriage check and minimal repairs to the nose wheel.

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The MoD reiterated that at no time were the crew, a pilot and navigator, not in full control of the 20 tonne aircraft.

RAF Akrotiri meanwhile is investigating how the feral canine "gained access to the runway in order to try and ensure that incidents such as this do not occur again."

The fate of the dog in question is unknown. 

Forces TV is available on Sky 264, Virgin 277 and Freesat 652

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