UK Defence Forum

One wonders why the airshow princesses weren't given that line in the ATO. One day maybe....

From that Jane's link above (incredible; what were they thinking):

"Before the current operations against the Islamic State commenced in September 2014, the UK had plans to phase the EPW III out of service by the end of 2017 in favour of the 500 lb Paveway IV as the RAF's sole PGM"

R.A.F.thinking that they may reassess the weapons out of service date, ops requirement change. Or we use them up before they are withdrawn.

Costsavings and warheads requiring rework coupled with a dubious CEP make for an easy deletion in the politicians eyes.

Would the EPW III fit on a Typhoon? Perhaps there is a integration cost.

It would fit, but needed to be integrated and funded.

Biggest problem was the concerns around possible CEP errors and collateral damage.

So, what changed in the end...? OSD delayed to 2019, to align with Tornado GR4's own OSD...? Or something more than that might now be on the cards...?

I think the contract for the bunker-buster warhead for the Paveway IV sealed the future. I continue to wonder if a 500 lbs warhead can truly do the job of a 2000 lbs one, though.

Brimstone 2 declared fully operational on Tornado GR4. Trials underway on Typhoon.

http://www.janes.com/article/62363/brim ... ornado-gr4

bobp wrote:Brimstone 2 declared fully operational on Tornado GR4. Trials underway on Typhoon.

http://www.janes.com/article/62363/brim ... ornado-gr4

And how smart is that? Considering that Tornado will be out of service in a few years...

abc123 wrote:

bobp wrote:Brimstone 2 declared fully operational on Tornado GR4. Trials underway on Typhoon.

http://www.janes.com/article/62363/brim ... ornado-gr4

And how smart is that? Considering that Tornado will be out of service in a few years...

totally agree all development and weapons integration budgets should be going into typhoon.

-<>-<>-<>-

RAF Drawing down its Tornado Training at RAF Lossiemouth. Full Story here .... http://www.janes.com/article/66936/raf- ... o-training

Jane's should up their game a bit... not just replay the official line:
"the decision to disband the OCU was on the basis that it would generate enough crews for the three front line units through to 2019."

Yes, and how many years ago were the back-seat driver quals lined up with the (from front line) retirement dates of those who had been trained?

Tornado thread?

After their OSD this piccie will relate to ER:
http://www.b737.org.uk/images/p8-harpoon.jpg

ArmChairCivvy wrote:Tornado thread?

Sorry, I was tired.

Moved it:
http://ukdefenceforum.net/viewtopic.php ... 840#p39620

End of the line for No XV Squadron

Today saw the end of an era today as the Royal Air Force’s No XV (Reserve) Squadron conducted its final flights at RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland. With this, the base bid farewell to Tornado operations.

Withdrawal of the RAF Tornado Force might still be two years away, but the first significant step towards the jet’s demise is now under way. On March 31, the Tornado Operational Conversion Unit (OCU), No XV(R) Squadron is to disband and the type’s formal training process will end.

Read More: http://www.airforcesmonthly.com/2017/03 ... -squadron/

UK's Tornado Fighter Jets Flying Over Syria To Be Fitted With ASRAAM Missiles

The UK Air Force is planning to equip its Tornado jets with the Advanced Short Range Air-toAir Missile (ASRAAM) to ward off Russian threat in the wake of Kremlin having warned of targeting allied aircraft of the US-led coalition.
...

http://www.defenseworld.net/news/19680/ ... VIveevyjcs

Thought they already carried them?
Also the photo in the article says UK tornado, when it's clearly a German aircraft.

Little J wrote:Thought they already carried them?
Also the photo in the article says UK tornado, when it's clearly a German aircraft.

I think when it came out first, the claim was they were flying with them but got denied by the Government (source: noggin, subject to change)

Today was the 43rd anniversary of the first ever flight of a Tornado, on 14th August 1974.

Another sign of the Tonka’s impending retirement..

News in that four Tornados joined the attack on Syria this morning joining French and US forces.
The questions would be what weapons did they use? Storm Shadow most likely?

Also as promised did Russia try to counteract with S400??
If they didnt try to counteract as promised they have lost face in a big way.

BBC reported that storm shadow was used. And also that Russia said we staged the chemical attack in Syria

Four Tornado aircraft launched two Storm Shadow missiles each. Total of 8 used.

DefenseNews re. German Tornado, fears over costs as Britain ditches its aircraft.

Keeping the aging aircraft current is shaping up to be a challenging undertaking for the Luftwaffe. The fewer aircraft in the tri-national program, Britain/Germany/Italy, have led to “significant technical, logistical and financial risk” in maintaining the 1980s era fighter-bomber. Germany originally purchased 357 aircraft; 93 are still in the inventory today, 88 of which belong to the Luftwaffe.

Italy retires its Tornado in 2027, Germany decided in 2016 to extend the life of the Tornado through 2035, with an assessment planned this summer of implementation plans to that end. .

Last November German talk about introducing a new, fixed scheme for financial contributions, abandoning the practice of going by the number of airframes used in each nation (presume if accepted Britain will still pay though to 2035 to support the German aircraft), German unsure what financial contributions can be expected of the Italians (not a surprise, looks like German wishful thinking though one never knows, it will depend on the small print in tri-service agreement, re. para. below, may be some horse trading agreement can be reached).

“The UK has a large number of airframes left in storage in a variety of conditions and including various degrees of upgrades between GR.1 and the latest GR.4 ‘diamond standard’ as flown over Iraq and Syria,“These will be a very valuable source of spare parts and consumables for the Luftwaffe Tornado force once the RAF fully retired the type,” “Since the Tornado manufacturing lines have long since closed, spare parts are expensive and often time consuming to procure, so Germany will no doubt appreciate access to the RAF’s stock of frontline and reserve airframes to cannibalise.”

German digitization of the head-up-display likely will require the costly replacement of the aircraft’s main computer, that upgrade, which is at risk of coming late, is prerequisite for the installation of a new NATO standard IFF, mandatory Jan. 1, 2019. The new capability, IFF Mode 5/S Level 1, is currently behind schedule, which means the Tornados could potentially only operate under special authorizations, if at all, in 2019 and beyond. The good news is that other nations also appear to have trouble with the new IFF.

PS Tied up with planned replacement of the German Tornado, it is said NATO nuclear sharing dictates that Germany buy the F-35 to carry the latest B61 nuclear bomb, the head of Luftwaffe was recently sacked for advocating F-35 buy. Understand modified Typhoon has been ruled out or may be new Franco German fighter, at moment speculation.

https://www.defensenews.com/global/2018 ... ts-planes/.