Join the RAF, GO TO LOSSIEMOUTH
 

Latest DIO contracts bulletin makes for interesting reading, not least the contract for Typhoon Squadron uplift: one additional squadron to Lossiemouth and one to Coningsby, and transfer of OCU to Lossiemouth.

So, Lossiemouth will then hold four operational Typhoon Squadrons, the Typhoon OCU AND the entire P-8 Poseidon force.

Somewhat cramped, overcrowded and rather busy?

Join the RAF and see Scotland. Interesting when Scotland becomes independent...

At least it would by a chance for a foreign posting...

Reactivate Kinloss as an RLG? ;)

MPN11.

No need, it already is.

Ahhh ... shows how out of touch I have become!

Govt Health Warning !!
 

Just because DIO have let a contract does not make it official MOD business...just saying...

IIRC, Lossiemouth was home to some 100 aircraft when Sandy Wilson was Staish, so it's no stranger to large numbers.

It was rumoured that the 'P-8 to Lossiemouth' decision was taken by the previous PM with little to no consideration of the basing options being worked up by MOD. An astute political move, for sure, with the independence fox having been well and truly shot (with barely a whimper from Sturgeon after the Brexit vote). But Mrs May has shown ruthlessness in dispensing with Dave's legacy, so who's to say the stuffing of the Typhoon Force into Lossie won't see the P-8 displaced elsewhere - or at least the options given proper consideration?

She may well move the P-8 elsewhere. Or not - at the moment the security of Scotland is the security of the UK.

Ultimately TM could remove the Trident fleet and the Typhoon fleet and the P8 fleet and leave a massive financial/economic hole in Scotland and a massive boost to England/Wales by bringing it back to the South. Personally I think it's unlikely............. the strategic positioning to address the routes most likely used by our red 'friends' on their journeys 'out and about' is a key consideration

I was in Scotland this weekend and was surprised to find so many people who were still not keen on an Independent Scotland despite all the spin and hype from the SNP and the Brexit decision.................. apparently a recent poll in the Scotsman newspaper still showed a majority (slightly reduced) in favour of staying within the United Kingdom.

Perhaps there are people out there with a wider view after all..............

Arc

The original plan, pre-politics, was to base the P-8 at Waddington....

Given the opportunity to rejoin again at age 17.5, I'd do it in a heartbeat if I could go back up North. Perhaps times have changed, and my tenure at Kinloss cannot be repeated, but the Kin/Loss area, people and the work there for 7 years was truly fabulous.
Join up and go to Scotland, count me in!

cannot see the problem - will be great to have lossie stuffed full of the RAF's finest aviators, all selected as the 'best of the best', all ready to carry out operational sorties 24/7/365, all capable of operating the very latest cutting-edge mil technology and able to switch between roles at a moment's notice and deliver a variety of precision weapons.........oh, and it will be good for them to bump into the Typhoon types now and then as well ;)

Scottish Independance
 

It has always puzzled me that our Scottish cousins strongly sought freedom but wanted to give it up to Europe, odd that.
Having lived in Scotland for five years it seems an emotional decision when a true patriot does what is best for his country not what suits his mood

So now a couple of well placed cruise missiles and we lose half our air force. Great planning.

When I was there in eighties there were Buccaneers, Jaguars, Hunters, Shackletons and Sea Kings. I didn't count them but there were lots. I appreciate the "eggs in one basket" argument, but "cramped, overcrowded."...Really??

"Independence within Europe" ..only the SNP could campaign under a banner with such a glaring contradiction

You could say that about any RAF airfield, we have so few now.

At least the Navy used to have a weekend shuttle 'tilly' from Jockistan to civilisation in a Sea Heron....

No doubt easyJet flights from Inverness will prove popular.

One thing Lossie does have is space and this will be the reason it was kept versus Leuchars, despite the latter having famously been renovated to support another 40yrs of fighter ops!

Re-opening Kinloss (for 9 a/c) is a pipe dream in my opinion, but agree that basing P-8 at Waddington makes some sense. What would maybe have more sense would have been to establish a 3rd Typhoon MOB at somewhere roughly inbetween the two current bases. Leeming? Leuchars? But I'd imagine budget constraints put paid to ideas such as those.

One answer to the lack of bases could be too share old airfields that are now in civil use. Teesside, Doncaster and Newquay to name a few. It may go against the grain to work with civilians but many other countries manage to make it work.
Apart from reducing the casts of running the field, other savings could be using the airline freight system to move spares. I'm sure more could be found.

Tinribs, as a Scotsman I have long since come to the conclusion, which I assume all would agree, the SNP are about as nationalist as Jeremy Corbyn. They are a confirmed leftist socialist party with a simplistic and quite backward view of British Imperialism, or as they would see it, 'English Imperialism', they'd deny any active participation in the days of Empire by anyone from Scotland or anywhere else outside England that is, however, unrealistic that would be. Quite simply they see the English in pantomime terms, as all conservatives and plummy accents. They hate the English and in fact are anti-nationalists hence the desire, like many leftist liberals, to hand Scotland over to the European Union, they can't wait, the Nationalist identity is to exploit that very genuine sentiment among those Scots which they would regard in the same way that the likes of Emily Thornberry regards Nationalist sentiment, either British or English, among Englishmen.

Especially ones with White Vans!:E

FB:)