Originally Posted by
ORAC
No, it’s that the cash for more F-was is locked in, at least for around 72, and where any future funding goes - which means Typhoon or Tempest.
Remember that Typhoon was never the desired Tornado F3 replacement, that was a different AST. Typhoon was the Jaguar replacement for the Central Region, a short range dogfighter/day attack mudmover; when they Jag was cancelled the Typhoon contract had already been signed so F3 replacement was cancelled and the Typhoon given the role.
The RAF wanted a long range oceanic twin engined interceptor for Atlantic/GIUK ops - and that is what Tempest is designed for.
So, if a choice has to be made between buying more Typhoon or safeguarding Tempest as it’s replacement - they’ll save the money for Tempest.
Seems like there is some logic with this...
As long as they keep the T1 jets going as purely AD to keep the numbers at an acceptable level then it sounds a decent plan............🤔