New A/C delivery rates

[Shaft109]

When a new type is procured, say the Tornado GR, at what sort of rate do they filter through once the production starts and how are they allocated usually?

Also are some stored immediately for attrition / fatigue balancing?

[Pontius Navigator]

In the case of the F3 they arrived faster than the training system could output crews. Some were stored 5 to a HAS.

On your latter question, unlikely though one or two used to be allocated to trials or engineering training.

[EAP86]

Usually the production lines are designed to deliver more than the expected Service requirement (10% to 20%). This is partly in the expectation that a few export orders can be drummed up eventually. Unfortunately its not so easy to speed up the production rates as the supply chain cannot deliver long lead time items on demand. I have a vague recollection that the Warton Tornado line was designed for over 50 per year.

In my experience, the most likely limit on production rates is the ability of the MoD to pay for the delivered aircraft. For Typhoon the initial training barrier for aircrew and groundcrew was solved by the so-called 'Case White' approach.

Aren't attrition aspects addressed by the Service fleet requirement numbers?

EAP

[Pontius Navigator]

EAP, on your last, correct. The ISK Staish at one point observed that a Nimrod should have been lost by about 1978. Fatal thought as one was lost shortly after.