Those of us who watch the BBC, CNN and Sky News on our TVs have been hearing about the build-up of tensions between India and Pakistan…and not on the cricket field!

The situation appears to be worsening on a daily basis and, as I write this article, artillery shells have been flying backwards and forwards.

The websites of various news agencies are full of comments regarding the prospect of this current hostility between those two nuclear powers spooling up into the unimaginable….nuclear war.

There has not been a hostile detonation of a weapon of war since August 9^th, 1945, when the USA nuked Nagasaki, the second Japanese city to be flattened with a nuclear bomb, following the destruction of Hiroshima just 3 days previously.

Almost 57 years have passed and, with the exception of the Cuban missile crisis in the 1960s, the world has never really needed to seriously consider the possibility of nuclear war.

Now, it seems, a very real possibility has reared its ugly head over the perpetual fight between India and Pakistan over the “ Kashmir” issue.

Hands up those who could point out where the Kashmir is with any accuracy? I thought not!

“So what has all this got to do with aviation insurance in South Africa?”, I hear you ask, as you struggle to stifle a yawn of sheer boredom!

Quite a lot, actually.

All aircraft insurance policies carry a General Exclusion, which reads, in one version or another, as follows:

This Policy does not cover claims caused by….any hostile detonation of any weapon of war employing atomic or nuclear fission and/or fusion or other like reaction or radioactive force or matter.

“So what?”, you ask, “My aircraft isn’t likely to be caught in any nuclear fall-out from a bomb going off in India or Pakistan, so why should I be concerned?”

True. It’s unlikely. However, the chances are you also carry “War Risks” insurance. This coverage is usually provided in terms of a separate “ Hull” policy and an extension to your “Legal Liability” policy. If you take a look at your “Hull War Risks” policy, you will find the following (again, the actual wording may vary from policy to policy, but the gist is the same):

This Policy excludes loss, damage or expense directly or indirectly arising out of any detonation of any weapon of war employing atomic or nuclear fission and/or fusion or other like reaction or radioactive force or matter whether hostile or otherwise.

You’re still not impressed, I can tell! OK then; let’s now take a look at the automatic cancellation provisions that appear in Hull War Risks policies as well as War Risks endorsements to Legal Liability coverages:

The Hull War Risks policy includes the following:

This Policy is subject to automatic review (by Insurers) of the rate of premium and/or conditions and/or Geographical Limits effective on the expiry of 7 days from the time of any hostile detonation of any weapon of war employing atomic or nuclear fission and/or fusion or other like reaction or radioactive force or matter wheresoever or whensoever such detonation may occur and whether or not the insured Aircraft may be directly affected. In the event of the review of the rate of premium and/or conditions and/or Geographical Limits not being accepted by the Insured then at the expiry of the said 7 days, this Policy shall become cancelled at that date.

The War Risks extension to a Legal Liability policy says:

So, putting it in a nutshell, if India and Pakistan start lobbing nuclear weapons at each other (or, more accurately, if either one of them does: there doesn’t have to be missiles going in both directions), all aviation War Risks coverage around the world will immediately be cancelled, or automatically put on 7 days’ notice of cancellation (without the need for Insurers to actually tell anyone), while Insurers reassess their positions. However, following the events of 9/11, Insurers are likely to offer any reinstatement of coverage at sharply increased cost, irrespective of how remote your particular exposure might appear to be.

There again, I guess that this will be the least of our problems! Here’s hoping that commonsense will prevail and all the experts will be proved wrong.