This issue came up at the HCGB safety day last week and the RAF attendee said that the VHF kit at most RAF bases dates back to the last war.
Having said the above I think it is worthwhile adding two comments :
1/ The RAF controllers round here (Cottesmore, Waddington etc) are very good and always a pleasure to work with but the quality of the kit they have to use must make their lives very difficult when they have to use it every day.
2/ Given the **** our forces have to put up with from TPTB I can understand why upgrading their VHF kit is not very high on their list of priorities.
J.