Originally Posted by
NutLoose
Errr we swopped wings with the Omani’s to keep theirs flying as they were life ex, however there are quite a few Tornado. But you would probably be stuffed for spares and generating them
What's life-ex really matter in war? So what if an airframe has theoretically exceeded it's fatigue life. If it can fly for a few tens of hours and help to knock out key Russian assets then that's better than nothing. We all know that life-ex isn't really an accurate assessment of true end of life. We've all seen life-ex airframes get sold and go on to fly in civil roles for years.
We rightly err on the side of caution in peacetime. No one wants deaths from airframe risks when not at war. All that shifts when the risk of people dying from not using iffy kit massively exceeds the risk from using it.
We've been at peace for so long we are inherently cautious. Would we be so cautious if Russian forces were dug in along the South Coast of England?