THE Government has turned down a request for a Commons debate on whether firefighting equipment should have been fitted to a Lyneham Hercules shot down in Iraq.

Leader of the House of Commons Geoff Hoon rejected Liberal Democrat calls for a debate on defence procurement.

An RAF board of inquiry last year revealed that while the crash of Hercules XV179 was not survivable, the lack of a fuel tank safety system could have contributed to the incident.

The entire crew including eight from RAF Lyneham died when the aircraft was brought down by small-arms fire north of Baghdad in January 2005.

Leaked documents showed that RAF pilots had requested explosive-suppressant foam (ESF) devices be fitted to Hercules fuel tanks two years before the attack.

The foam stops fuel tanks from exploding when pierced by bullets.

The call for a debate on defence procurement was made by the Lib Dem's Shadow Leader of the House, David Heath, yesterday.

He said: "If there is the slightest chance that their deaths could have been averted by the provision of explosive suppressant foam, then that is something that should have been done.

But Mr Hoon replied: "It is actually almost always possible to find some safety feature or safety device that, with the benefit of hindsight, would have prevented, in this case, this terrible tragedy.

"But, necessarily, judgements have to be made about the extent to which in each and every safety feature can be built into, for example, an aircraft.

"The safest course, as far as aircraft are concerned, is not take off the ground.

"But the truth is there an inherent level of risk. What the Ministry of Defence strive to do is minimise that risk where at all possible."