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Ofcourse, still some neo-colonial thinking going on there (Britannia rules the waves...), but though still a sizeable force, it really is nowhere near the Cold-war size anymore... That doesn't mean that I don't agree with cuts, but they are really immense.Coati wrote:Aircraft carriers, nuke subs, 200+ attack planes, new Eurofighters, large tank force, almost 200.000 regulars plus the same number of reserve personnel.
Navy of 87 vessels, plus active Marines organisation (7.400).
And in defence spendings the 3rd country in the world!
The UK has the third largest declared military expenditure in the world, after the United States and China. It is also the second largest spender on military science, engineering and technology.
I rest my case...
/reeve.gif)
At least a sense of humour remains
andComment: Defence review, or strategic error?
Source: MSF...ANALYSIS: Winners and losers of the UK Defence Review
from different sources....change always possible
Harrier
Harrier fleet withdrawn - Harrier to cease all flying operations by the
01/04/11.
4(R)Sqaudron - RAF Wittering aircraft moved to RAF Cottesmore by 29/10/10
squadron to disbands 29/10/10.
41(R)Sqaudron to disband Harrier Flt 29/10/10.
800 Naval Air Squadron - To disband 31/03/11 some pilots transferred to US
Navy Pilot School to commence carrier training.
1(F) Squadron - To disband 31/03/11 some pilots transferred to US Navy Pilot
School to commence carrier training.
Tornado
Tornado Squadrons - 13 Squadron and 14 Squadron to be disbanded by 31/03/11.
Tornado Wing - To be made up of six squadron's.
Tornado Bases - Fleet to be centralized along with the aircrafts depth
maintenance at RAF Marham by 31/10/11.
Tornado Fleet - To be reduced from its current size of 133 airframes is to
be reduced by 53 aircraft to 80. Those aircraft withdrawn from service to be
used as a spares score enabling the Tornado fleet to reach its O.S.D. by
31/10/11
Tornado Reorganization - All remaining Tornado squadrons to made up of 10
aircraft each by 31/10/11.
RAF Cottesmore
Airfield to close 31/03/11 and be placed into care and maintenance by
01/11/11
RAF Kinloss
To close and be placed into care and maintenance by 31/03/11
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Hi all,
The following is what the RAF are planning to do with the Tornado GR.4 fleet
now the Defence Review has been announced in broad detail. This is perhaps
the beginning of the finer detail;
*Tornado Squadrons* - Two Squadrons to be disbanded by 31/03/11.
*Tornado Wing* - To be made up of six operational squadrons.
*Tornado Bases* - Fleet to be centralised along with the aircraft in-depth
maintenance at RAF Marham by 31/10/11.
*Tornado Fleet* - To be reduced from its current size of 133 airframes is to
be reduced by 53 aircraft to 80.
Those aircraft withdrawn from service to be used as a spares source enabling the Tornado fleet to reach its out of service date (OSD).
*Tornado Reorganisation* - All remaining Tornado squadrons to made up of 10
aircraft each by 31/10/11.
This will leave 20 aircraft spare to form a Tornado Operational Conversion
Unit (TOCU), act as attrition replacements and to be available while
aircraft are on long term maintenance.
Although the document I have seen does not specifically say it, RAF
Lossiemouth is slated to close!!
If the rumours about RAF Leuchars being closed when the Tornado F.3's are retired from service are true and as expected it is confirmed that RAF Kinloss will close, this would mean that there will be no RAF flying stations left in Scotland!!
The Northern QRA would likely be carried out from an RAF enclave at a civilian airport with
Typhoon aircraft and crews rotated from a central operating base at RAF Coningsby.
The message seems to be one aircraft type - one base and in some cases one
role (i.e. ISTAR and Transport) - one base.
One wonders where they will base the F-35 Lightning II (whichever version is
eventually ordered for the RAF/RN) ??
/emirates.gif)
The Nimrod MRA.4 project was a disaster from day one.It's termination should have happened years ago.The P-8 should be procured.The loss of a maritime patrol aircraft to an island nation is foolhardy.Britain will most likely pay a price in blood for this in the coming decades.Coati wrote:Maybe it isn't as sad and strange when we have a close look at the announced cuts:
Trying to refurbish Nimrods from the 60s to me always seemed like an expensive and strange plan.
Retirering the VC10 and Tristar: seems like a smart plan when you look at the operating costs and performance of these oldies. Especially with the A330 coming into service soon.
Slashing the Harrier aircraft. Expensive aircraft with limited capabilities, especially A2A.
Changing the F-35B to F-35. Better performance, cheaper and no needless VTOL capability.
Sentinels: extremely expensive to operate, so why keep them flying when they are not needed anymore?
C-130: why operate two different types of prop transports?
To me, it seems like in the UK they are gatting a bit more realistic and practical. They have a very large Defence force, still Cold war size.
Somewhere I read in one of the news announcements the training capabilites will be proportionally downsized as well. But number are still rare in the Review reports, especially about aircraft (unknown number of F-35C, unknown number of Tornado's etc).
While Britain may be the third largest declared defence spender,the defence dollar(or Pound) goes much further in many Third World countries,where the average income is less than $5 per day.Coati wrote:Aircraft carriers, nuke subs, 200+ attack planes, new Eurofighters, large tank force, almost 200.000 regulars plus the same number of reserve personnel.
Navy of 87 vessels, plus active Marines organisation (7.400).
And in defence spendings the 3rd country in the world!
The UK has the third largest declared military expenditure in the world, after the United States and China. It is also the second largest spender on military science, engineering and technology.
I rest my case...
It just struck me; the Irish Air Corps now outclasses the RAF in MPA respect with this:Le Addeur noir wrote: The Nimrod MRA.4 project was a disaster from day one.It's termination should have happened years ago.The P-8 should be procured.The loss of a maritime patrol aircraft to an island nation is foolhardy.Britain will most likely pay a price in blood for this in the coming decades.
Polecat I thing your right. There is mentioning of Sentinels but sometimes also of the aircraft of 5 (AC)Sqn to be withdrawn.Polecat wrote:Page 86 of the latest Scramble magazine shows a picture of a landing Shadow R1, the caption states that these will we axed ... Did I miss something? I thought only the Sentinels will be phased out upon return from afghanistan?
Unfortunatly the Shadows are likely to also be scrapped.Canberra TT.18 wrote:Polecat I thing your right. There is mentioning of Sentinels but sometimes also of the aircraft of 5 (AC)Sqn to be withdrawn.Polecat wrote:Page 86 of the latest Scramble magazine shows a picture of a landing Shadow R1, the caption states that these will we axed ... Did I miss something? I thought only the Sentinels will be phased out upon return from afghanistan?
I think the Shadows remain as the RAF discovered they are much cheaper to fly then the Sentinels and can do almost the same job? A fifth Shadow is only recently ordered.
Pieter
I really don't see your point. Iran was never an aggressor the last 40 years or so. I guess you mean: some governments have other ideas, like waging war against Iran. Why should the UK preserve a huge force because of China and North Korea? Is this part of their defence strategy? So in your view a country has to spend Billions of Dollars, just because there are a few random countries in the world with a big army and with different government structures? In that case: why not point to India as a thread, or Japan, or Egypt, and spend your entire BPM to defence, because you never know for sure?Le Addeur noir wrote:The British government seems th think there will be no future wars.Iran,North Korea and China may well have other ideas.
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