2 sonic booms North Leeds 21:52
Discussion
baldy1926 said:
With the shrinking airforce do we have a tanker on standby at brize a sort of slow qrf. Would they automatically respond as soon as the qrf deploy as we cannot have a tanker out on station.
I think that's what happens, tanker on QRA standby at Brize for just such occasions.baldy1926 said:
With the shrinking airforce do we have a tanker on standby at brize a sort of slow qrf. Would they automatically respond as soon as the qrf deploy as we cannot have a tanker out on station.
The term is QRA (Quick Reaction Alert). 
The Tankers hold a Readiness State known as TANSOR (TANker Standby Operational Readiness). The TANSOR response time will vary dependent upon the 'Threat' and how it's building (eg RS60 [Readiness State 60 minutes] reducing to RS30 or RS20). You might even launch the Tanker to get him pre-positioned before the QRA fighters are launched.
However, even if you had a much larger Tanker Fleet, you wouldn't routinely hold airborne standby because it is both wasteful of assets and somewhat inflexible.
baldy1926 said:
Thanks i realise it would not be effective keeping one up at all times. With all assets at brize its a long way south a couple really should be up north
Not such a big issue these days........aircraft aren't so fuel critical, unlike back in the days of the Frightening, which was fuel critical before it even left the runway 
and I believe back then there had to be a few K1/K2's stooging around for QRA top-ups?baldy1926 said:
Thanks i realise it would not be effective keeping one up at all times. With all assets at brize its a long way south a couple really should be up north
No need. By the time the typhoon needs some fuel either the tanker will be on scene or another QRA jet to replace it. Any more info on this as to why comms failed and why the plane left it's original flight path?
All reports just say it was intercepted because of lack of comms and was safely landed at newcastle.
(The flight path is right above my house and they sounded f
king brilliant roaring overhead)
Hats off to our air force as they took off intercepted a plane, landed it and returned to base all in 45 mins.
All reports just say it was intercepted because of lack of comms and was safely landed at newcastle.
(The flight path is right above my house and they sounded f
king brilliant roaring overhead) Hats off to our air force as they took off intercepted a plane, landed it and returned to base all in 45 mins.
baldy1926 said:
With the shrinking airforce do we have a tanker on standby at brize a sort of slow qrf. Would they automatically respond as soon as the qrf deploy as we cannot have a tanker out on station.
yes one of the entirely military Voyagers is available to support QRA 24/7/365, they get alerted at the same time as whichever QRA is going get scrambled - there's a video on the Airtanker website about the support to QRA. As others have said it allows the QRA aircraft the ability to stay out longer and also provides another several pairs of eyes and ears / mouths for comms. little or no point having one in the air , QRA being in the air on standby is a very very very very high state of readiness ( e.g. cuban missile crisis ) ...
QRA bombers in the air reflects the concerns ofthe era when air -launched nukes were the primary means of delivering MAD.
mph1977 said:
baldy1926 said:
With the shrinking airforce do we have a tanker on standby at brize a sort of slow qrf. Would they automatically respond as soon as the qrf deploy as we cannot have a tanker out on station.
yes one of the entirely military Voyagers is available to support QRA 24/7/365, they get alerted at the same time as whichever QRA is going get scrambled - there's a video on the Airtanker website about the support to QRA. As others have said it allows the QRA aircraft the ability to stay out longer and also provides another several pairs of eyes and ears / mouths for comms. little or no point having one in the air , QRA being in the air on standby is a very very very very high state of readiness ( e.g. cuban missile crisis ) ...
QRA bombers in the air reflects the concerns ofthe era when air -launched nukes were the primary means of delivering MAD.
baldy1926 said:
With the shrinking airforce do we have a tanker on standby at brize a sort of slow qrf. Would they automatically respond as soon as the qrf deploy as we cannot have a tanker out on station.
Yes, nothing slow about it, we have an aircraft ready to go as soon as the fighters launch. It's quite impressive watching an airliner being scrambled & airborne in a matter of minutes, although it does get tiresome when the Ruskies are playing silly buggers.Edited by RWD cossie wil on Tuesday 3rd May 18:37
ecsrobin said:
I only dealt with the fighters but my understanding is the tanker is some distance away from the action so doesn't provide an extra set of eyes. For comms/co-ordination an E3 gets launched. The tanker also gets alerted after the fighters as the master controller is speaking to the jets first as far as I'm aware.
not disputing about the E3 and it's roles in supporting QRA but to suggest that the Tanker and E3 are delayed by communication with the QRA aircraft paints a rather quaint picture of the control set up ...
mph1977 said:
ecsrobin said:
I only dealt with the fighters but my understanding is the tanker is some distance away from the action so doesn't provide an extra set of eyes. For comms/co-ordination an E3 gets launched. The tanker also gets alerted after the fighters as the master controller is speaking to the jets first as far as I'm aware.
not disputing about the E3 and it's roles in supporting QRA but to suggest that the Tanker and E3 are delayed by communication with the QRA aircraft paints a rather quaint picture of the control set up ...
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