RAF C-130J's to be retired early?
What is the average availability rate of the C130J vs the A400 ? As an aside the RCAF has found that the C17 has had the highest availability rate of any turbine transport aircraft in the history of the RCAF.
Thread Starter
As the Threadstarter thought I might add a little. Something that many have already alluded to, is pointed out in an article in today's Daily Express, beginning to mirror other decisions made in the past. Don't seem to learn from past mistakes, especially when decisions are made to save money but then called something other, damn Treasury, "Sir Humphreys" and "kowtowing" Service bigwigs playing the "Whitehall game". Where is Leadership when so obviously needed?
[QUOTE=esscee;11435109]As the Threadstarter thought I might add a little. Something that many have already alluded to, is pointed out in an article in today's Daily Express, beginning to mirror other decisions made in the past. Don't seem to learn from past mistakes, especially when decisions are made to save money but then called something other, damn Treasury, "Sir Humphreys" and "kowtowing" Service bigwigs playing the "Whitehall game". Where is Leadership when so obviously needed?[/QUOTE
What??
.
What??
.
" Where is Leadership when so obviously needed"
Long gone - it's been cut on cut since 1945
Long gone - it's been cut on cut since 1945
The Secretary of State for Defence has just stated, in a reply to a Labour member condemning the C-130J fleet retirement and bigging up the Atlas capability, that when the Herc is retired it will leave an Air Lift fleet that is “the biggest in 50 years!”
Surely this is wrong? 50 years ago, in 1973, the RAF had an airlift fleet of 63 Hercules, 16 Andovers, 10 Belfasts, 22 Britannias, 13 VC10’s and 5 Comets.
That’s 127 airlift aircraft, compared to a July 2023 total of 44, and that is a generous 44 as not all 14 Voyagers are in use, and they are also the RAF’s only AAR asset, compared to 30 pure AAR Victors in 1973.
Ben Wallace has just misled Parliament!
Surely this is wrong? 50 years ago, in 1973, the RAF had an airlift fleet of 63 Hercules, 16 Andovers, 10 Belfasts, 22 Britannias, 13 VC10’s and 5 Comets.
That’s 127 airlift aircraft, compared to a July 2023 total of 44, and that is a generous 44 as not all 14 Voyagers are in use, and they are also the RAF’s only AAR asset, compared to 30 pure AAR Victors in 1973.
Ben Wallace has just misled Parliament!
He probably means physical size of the aircraft..............
pr00ne do you really think his brain and lips were connected?
It must be capacity not quantity* ... clearly we will never need them in more than one place.
*unless he is refering to four C-130Js
Why does no MP ever ask the obvious question: 'Why does virtually every other major A400M operator also have a number of smaller aircraft'
Wallace:
Cartlidge:
It must be capacity not quantity* ... clearly we will never need them in more than one place.
*unless he is refering to four C-130Js
Why does no MP ever ask the obvious question: 'Why does virtually every other major A400M operator also have a number of smaller aircraft'
Wallace:
The simple reality is the A400 outperforms it (the Hercules), its availability was extremely successful, the Hercules only accounts for 10% of the fleet and the overall fleet for lift is now the biggest it has been for 50 years.
“The largest number of evacuees carried out of Sudan by the Hercules was 143. The largest number in a A400 I can confirm was around 100 more than that.”
The Secretary of State for Defence has just stated, in a reply to a Labour member condemning the C-130J fleet retirement and bigging up the Atlas capability, that when the Herc is retired it will leave an Air Lift fleet that is “the biggest in 50 years!”
Surely this is wrong? 50 years ago, in 1973, the RAF had an airlift fleet of 63 Hercules, 16 Andovers, 10 Belfasts, 22 Britannias, 13 VC10’s and 5 Comets.
That’s 127 airlift aircraft, compared to a July 2023 total of 44, and that is a generous 44 as not all 14 Voyagers are in use, and they are also the RAF’s only AAR asset, compared to 30 pure AAR Victors in 1973.
Ben Wallace has just misled Parliament!
Surely this is wrong? 50 years ago, in 1973, the RAF had an airlift fleet of 63 Hercules, 16 Andovers, 10 Belfasts, 22 Britannias, 13 VC10’s and 5 Comets.
That’s 127 airlift aircraft, compared to a July 2023 total of 44, and that is a generous 44 as not all 14 Voyagers are in use, and they are also the RAF’s only AAR asset, compared to 30 pure AAR Victors in 1973.
Ben Wallace has just misled Parliament!
Special ops wise, is it not equatable in these times to have also perhaps a more expendable aircraft, god forbid a raid, thinking alike of Entebbe , Operation_Mikado..
no ok, can use a voyager. brill
no ok, can use a voyager. brill
Whistling Wheelbarrows ?
...
Is it possible the 'onnerable Gent may have forgotten a few squadrons of Whistling T**ts ? ... soz ... I meant ... Wheelbarrows.
That's most of his job description innit ? ... He's prolly including 67 Chinny's and a load of Marlins .
...
LFH
Surely this is wrong? 50 years ago, in 1973, the RAF had an airlift fleet of 63 Hercules, 16 Andovers, 10 Belfasts, 22 Britannias, 13 VC10’s and 5 Comets.
Ben Wallace has just misled Parliament !
...
LFH
Then came Roy Mason and the end of the Andover C, Belfast, Britannia and Comet and the withdrawal of 13 Alberts. Justification was no out of NATO area ops but still more than 44 FW aircraft.
Whilst it's true that, in the end, no Hercs or VC 10s were withdrawn, the AE figures for both were reduced, with all that that meant for crew numbers, spares procurement and so forth. The VC 10 went from 13 to 11 as I recall, and I simply can't remember the number for the Herc fleet at this distance. (Having been involved at Upavon in some early work for MOD on fleet sizes against given tasks, the initial announcement to retain the Belfast came as a surprise, as all the guidance then had pointed towards a Herc and VC 10 fleet on numerical grounds.)
ZH865 lunchtime EGSC
This morning I heard it was coming into my neck of the woods (Marshalls) one final time, so tracked it on ADSB when it flew through the Mach Loop / Valleys and head this way passing over roundabout central (MK lol) and made my merry way to the airport to catch it. So here are my photos from lunchtime taken from Coldhams Lane side.
cheers
cheers
Last edited by chopper2004; 16th May 2023 at 21:30.
Retiring RAF's Hercules will leave initial capability gap, new air chief says
https://www.forces.net/technology/ai...hief-air-staff
The following 3 users liked this post by CAEBr:
pr00ne
Not according to Wiki, which says "56 aircraft were produced for the RAF under the designation Argosy C Mk 1 (C.1), it served in a total of six squadrons; three based in the UK and one each in Aden, Cyprus, and the Far East. The RAF withdrew the Argosy from transport missions during 1975 as an economic measure."
If true, that confirms that the fleet of fifty years ago included the Armlong Woolworth Allsoggy, as the Lyneham comic strip would have it.
airsound
Argosy withdrawn as transport by 1971, save a few at Akrotiri, but Benson wing had gone by the end of 71]
If true, that confirms that the fleet of fifty years ago included the Armlong Woolworth Allsoggy, as the Lyneham comic strip would have it.
airsound
pr00ne
Not according to Wiki, which says "56 aircraft were produced for the RAF under the designation Argosy C Mk 1 (C.1), it served in a total of six squadrons; three based in the UK and one each in Aden, Cyprus, and the Far East. The RAF withdrew the Argosy from transport missions during 1975 as an economic measure."
If true, that confirms that the fleet of fifty years ago included the Armlong Woolworth Allsoggy, as the Lyneham comic strip would have it.
airsound
Not according to Wiki, which says "56 aircraft were produced for the RAF under the designation Argosy C Mk 1 (C.1), it served in a total of six squadrons; three based in the UK and one each in Aden, Cyprus, and the Far East. The RAF withdrew the Argosy from transport missions during 1975 as an economic measure."
If true, that confirms that the fleet of fifty years ago included the Armlong Woolworth Allsoggy, as the Lyneham comic strip would have it.
airsound
The 5, not 6 Argosy transport squadrons (there were 2 in the UK, not 3) were disbanded in 1967 (215 Sqn Singapore) 1968 (105 Sqn Bahrain) 1970 (267 Sqn Benson) and 1971 (114 Sqn Benson.