UK Defence Forum

That's nice revealing the capabilities, I hope our cousins across the pond aren't upset.

Caught a snippet on Radio 5 yesterday stating that a 2nd Airseeker/RJ was being deployed to the area to assist in operations vs ISIS.

Given its that "handy/popular" an aircraft would it be worth the UK trying to get a 4th?

Dahedd wrote:Caught a snippet on Radio 5 yesterday stating that a 2nd Airseeker/RJ was being deployed to the area to assist in operations vs ISIS.

Given its that "handy/popular" an aircraft would it be worth the UK trying to get a 4th?

Depends if there are any left in any museums anywhere.

are they not converted tankers from the Bone Yard ?? Must be a few of them still kicking about.

Heh. The third and final Airseeker (expected in 2017) will carry the registry ZZ666 !
(The first two were ZZ664 and ZZ665)

just a pity we didin't get the electronics fitted to the A330 not a 50 year old Museum piece!

RAF looking to expand Rivet Joint and Shadow fleets?

The Armchair Soldier wrote:RAF looking to expand Rivet Joint and Shadow fleets?

GibMariner wrote:

The Armchair Soldier wrote:RAF looking to expand Rivet Joint and Shadow fleets?

Thanks for the correction!

GibMariner wrote:

The Armchair Soldier wrote:RAF looking to expand Rivet Joint and Shadow fleets?

Airseeker's are hardly "new" aircraft

Surprised that the Runway isn't long enough for a full fuel load take off.

Oh, joy. That is not a problem at all, with Voyager and its drogues... wait.

Can see why they don't like that. And they will like it even less when the US tankers leave the UK soil in the near future.

The full article (behind the paywall) speculates that the USAF might chose to base their RC-135s at RAF Fairford and, if so, the UK might move their RC-135s to Fairford as well.

This all sounds very bizarre, when I was at Waddington there was no mention of it being too short, but admittedly that was back in the Nimrod days.

Mildenhall is about the same size as Waddington so how come its all of a sudden a problem? Further more why would you close one base just to open another? Also surely its cheaper to extend a runway then activate a whole new base?

It'd be interesting to know why this sort of activity wasn't undertaken (if it was judged important enough) during the runway refurb work, the base was shut down and a/c operated from elsewhere I think.

shark bait wrote:Further more why would you close one base just to open another? Also surely its cheaper to extend a runway then activate a whole new base?

I can speculate:
1. Salford has two aircon hangars for the very delicate B2s; I can imagine that the use of them would be beneficial when the v sensitive - and when in use , sealed - electronics need to be opened up for maintenance
2. When you take off, seen from a certain angle and from a great distance the huge air traffic, including holding patterns over the SE acts as chaff against radars

Now, if I were the RAF, I would start to track all new house purchases within binocular range of the runways...

The third and final Rivet Joint has been delivered:

ZZ666!

If it doesn't get the callsign "Beast" on a regular basis, something is very wrong with you people.

That one took me a second to spot, Gabe. Very good!

Also nice to see, for some reason I had it in my head it wasn't turning up till 2018.

September 2017 had been the last i heard. Which might still be accurate if it refers to it being fully absorbed into operational cycle and all that... otherwise, it arrived earlier than expected, which is never a bad thing.

Gabriele wrote:If it doesn't get the callsign "Beast" on a regular basis, something is very wrong with you people.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ypus_4.jpg

Gabriele wrote:If it doesn't get the callsign "Beast" on a regular basis, something is very wrong with you people.

And now formally delivered.

http://www.janes.com/article/74493/uk-r ... -airseeker

Might be the Beast, but Damien is the traditional nickname for the 666 plates, as 51 Sqn are well aware.......

Let's hope this has more luck than XW666.

Google maps picture
Couple rivet joint,sentinel and shadow

Updated even before US fleet