Shut-down of RAF squadrons 'to go ahead a year early'

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rock45

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Shut-down of RAF squadrons 'to go ahead a year early'


The shut-down of two RAF Tornado squadrons is to go ahead a year early in order to save money, leaving Britain with just eight aircraft kept ready to protect its skies, it has been reported.


Last Updated: 9:31PM BST 14 Apr 2009

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Squadron Tornado GR1 from RAF Lossiemouth photographed flying along the coast near Tain, Scotland Photo: JACK PRITCHARD/RAF PR


The 43 and 111 squadrons, which were due to stand down in late 2010, could be merged or axed from September although the Ministry of Defence says it has not worked out the full details.
The move will reportedly cut the number of fighter jets on standby to protect Britain from 25 to 12. However, it is said that at all times, four of these will be undergoing maintenance, leaving only eight on standby at any one time.

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The Tornado is to be replaced by the Typhoon, a newer jet, which could be used in Afghanistan as well as for the "Quick Reaction Alert" duties to protect Britain from potential attack from the air.
The Ministry of Defence has ordered 183 of the aircraft at £69 million each, according to the newspaper, 53 of which have so far been delivered.
All Tornados will be replaced by Typhoons by 2011.
Senior defence sources were reported to have confirmed that the squadrons were being axed early.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence told the newspaper: "There will be no change to the air defence of the UK.
"The Tornado F3 will continue to fly from RAF Leuchars and maintain the Northern Quick Reaction Alert commitment until its planned out of service date in 2011."



Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...f-RAF-squadrons-to-go-ahead-a-year-early.html
 
Little or no threat

I agree using one aircraft type is more cost effective that's for sure look how the USAF used the F-16 in so many roles. We got a lot of bang for the buck that's for sure and the Viper is still going strong. I'm sure these aircraft could be held in "light storage" until more Typhoon's come online just in case.
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tomtom22 said:
It's a sign of the economic times.
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Yes but oddly enough I don't think it has to be that way, the military like the health and science fields are generally being screwed royally by their suppliers.

We run into situations where you can buy the exact same item (right down to the packaging) off the shelf at the local hardware store for $10 or from the "approved supplier" for $110, the problems arise when you are not allowed to buy these items due to purchasing contracts.
 
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This smacks of post WW1, the war to end all wars, British cut back on the military then was caught short when WW2 broke out.

There's an old saying, if you want to know the future, look to the past. History has a habit of repeating itself.
 
What happens if the russkies decide to ramp up their Bear flights.
Not to long ago borth Norwegian and UK had to scramble fighters to identify "milkrun flights"...

I´m just sayin, 8 aircraft....
 
SHERMAN said:
8 aircraft for the whole UK?!
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The Ministry of Defence has ordered 183 of the aircraft (ed. Typhoon II) at £69 million each, according to the newspaper, 53 of which have so far been delivered.


So its 8+53 thats 61 Aircraft. And as someone said its only for a year or so and its not like the UK faces any real air threat. Furthermore the UK is small, 8 aircraft can easily cover the British airspace if they needed to scramble quickly.
 
Ahhhh. But what happens when aircraft are down for maintaince? What happens if there is a training loss? What happens if a scenerio like the one presented by KJ comes about and Combat losses are incurred. Worst case scenerio always needs to be taken into consideration, not just the happy fuzzy, cute scenerio.
 
rock45 said:
The move will reportedly cut the number of fighter jets on standby to protect Britain from 25 to 12. However, it is said that at all times, four of these will be undergoing maintenance, leaving only eight on standby at any one time.
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This is quoted from the original post..
 
I must admit, I tremble when I read there are only 8-12 air defence fighters for the UK; wish it wasn't so, but we are still at war with an enemy with demonstrated air attack capability - and we have a re-arming tyranny within 3 hours flying time. The latter isn't officially at war but is still conducting espionage operations at near Cold-war levels.

Sometimes I wonder whether the folks making the decisions actually live in the real world.
 
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