as has already been said, this is NO rumour. Sqn Bosses briefed both 43 and 111 on Wednesday, so it is happening

And quite a few back-seaters (and front too I imagine since the Typhoo OCU is doing Saudi stuff and not UK stuff at the mo) are coming to the GR4....

?
 

So just WHO is left to defend our Northern Airspace

I wonder if this is the fall out savings / price to pay regarding the "do we, don't we?" over the Harrier force. In fairness - the publicity does say that the Typhoon is the mutt's nuts and widdles on the F3 so it should be used for the job it was designed for.

In going down the single seater route (Tiff, Dave), the RAF is saying 'ta ta' to FJ Navs for all but GR4's it already owns and maybe it's replacement will also be specified as a solo bird.

I am still to be convinced, however, that one 'colleague' can do the work of two - and even if they could, would not another operator in the plane be able to do lots of 'good things' to assist with missions?

So with a surplus of Navs/WSOs going across to the GR4, does that mean they will cease recruiting/trg etc?

The Leeming super SH base sounds like a good idea...........:eek:

I think there'll eventually be 3 Typhoon squadrons at Leuchars, including 6 which is already slated. In terms of seniority though, I think 25's due to take one of the slots ahead of 43 and 111. No idea which one of the 2 current Leuchars squadrons is most senior.

Gladrag asked:

" So just WHO is left to defend our Northern Airspace "

Well, according to RIA Novosti - Russia - Russian naval task force heads to Atlantic, Mediterranean, the Russian Naval Su-33s should be available a couple of times a year for a couple of weeks.....

S41

43 (15/4/16) was formed before 111. (1/8/17)

Overstress -

Here's the answer - http://www.pprune.org/military-aircr...squadrons.html . It appears that the Essex Wideboys of One Hundred and Eleven Squadron are indeed senior to the Fighting Chickens of 43(J) Sqn.

Pprune is your friend!


S41

[QUOTE][Leeming now the A6 hub with 100 Sqn still doing their thing keeping the runway open./QUOTE]

How on earth do 100 Sqn survive? Always seem to be up for the chop and always survive.

Thought I heard that 43 and III were ahead of 25 (haven't we got some Bloodhound sqn to give them)

If the Russians are flying over the UK they won't just be turning the gas off. :eek:

Imagegear.

When someone presumably mature and intelligent like Airpolice asks the question "Who are we needing defended from?" on a thread like this, I get all depressed. Perhaps its all the wars I've lived through, most of which came out of the blue.
Better question would be "why do we need an Army, Navy and Air Force?"

FoldingWings, in an ideal world you are right but in the real world the cat will find so many holes in the bag.

At the height of the cold war a base closure, which would affect enemy targetting plans, was secret. So secret that people posted in, after the decision had been made, were assured the rumour was wrong and to go ahead and buy houses.

With a bare 6 month to go people have a right to know and that includes wanabees aiming to become FJ Navs.

I'm afraid that all too often the secrecy has simply been replaced with lies.

I tried to write this story for the Sunday Times this week but received the following response which I post here for anyone to say whether the first sentence is another case of secrets or lies, or is actually true.

“There will be no change to the Air Defence of the United Kingdom. The Tornado F3 will continue to fly from RAF Leuchars and will maintain the Northern Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) commitment at that Station until its planned Out of Service Date in 2011.”

Given the MoD claim that UK air defences would not be affected, we felt unable to continue with the story, which said the MoD was cutting Britain's air defences by 40 per cent at a time when the Russians were increasingly trying it on in the North Sea not to mention the 9/11 evidence of what could be done with a hijacked plane.

Too vague. Does that mean in scope or scale, or just "Yes we will continue to defend the UK" (but we're not telling you whether we'll be reducing our force levels).

But we're not telling you whether the number of Tornado F3s will be reduced.

Mick, I'm surprised you didn't see through these vague statements. Typical MoD waffle...:rolleyes:

"Dear CAS. Please confirm whether you intend to disband 43 and/or 111 squadrons on the Tornado F3 at Leuchars before 2011".

I can see through it but when I present it to my editors they do not know the subject well enough to see through it and to the honest man in the street "no change" means "no change".

I wholly agree, Mick.

But we're talking about Ministry mandarins and spin-ridden politicians who don't understand the meaning of the word 'honest'......:(

MS,

"no change" means "no change".

Precisely, even if the force numbers are cut the assets committed to conduct QRA (I) will be exactly the same.:ok:

G8D

G8D speaks the truth...

If the only tasking is QRA(I) and you determine what the minimum number is to do QRA(I) and retain QRA-only currency for the crews, then the rest of the aircraft, crews, and engineers can all be safely withdrawn. Or so a beancounter would tell you.

But - BEADWINDOW - let's not speculate here on what that number should be, or what we're defending against, pls. People who need to know, do. And for everyone else, with respect, you don't. You could do something more useful - like helping to find a couple of dead pianos at a competitive price, for example....

S41

Shrinking the force down to a package that can provide QRA 24/7...

Can you imagine being one of the crews left behind to do that?