Did not realise the Ark Royal was going quite so soon....

[thatone1967]

Apparently she enters Portsmouth for the last time on December 3rd..

[anonymous-user]

Yep and it is understood the Harriers will all be gone by mid December. Last day of flying rumoured to be 15th or 16th December depending on weather. Such a sad end losing Ark Royal, Harrier fleet, Nimrod and the Sentinel once it is back from Afghanistan. The Dominie will be going shortly and the Nimrod R1 in March

[whirligig]

She has been up here de-ammunitioning near Faslane and sad to see her heading down the Clyde for the last time. Off to Newcastle, Hamberg then Portsmouth - not much of a send-off tour after all these years.

[thatone1967]

The sentinel is going too? Thought we had only just got that ?

[anonymous-user]

thatone1967 said:

The sentinel is going too? Thought we had only just got that ?

Yes, one of the less reported items of the SDSR. It is being got rid of once the Afghanistan mission is complete.

So judging by today's NATO conference, I would expect in 5 years time at the most.

We are replacing the Nimrod R1 though with converted 30-40 year old KC-135s. These are being converted to RC-135 Rivet Joint standards, but won't be here for a couple of years.

Dominie is going (rumoured early next year) as there will no longer be any requirement to train Navigators, with Nimrod gone and VC-10 & Tristar with not long to go.

[thatone1967]

so what we will we ACTUALLY be left with?

[anonymous-user]

thatone1967 said:

so what we will we ACTUALLY be left with?

Not a lot.

We will be losing two Tornado GR4 squadrons aswell.

We have lost Maritime Patrol and Long range Capability completely with the Nimrod being cancelled with no replacement.

I think we will end up with 5x Tornado Squadrons, We have 3 frontline Typhoon squadrons, (plus the OCU & Evaluation unit).
43 Squadron was supposed to be reforming in March with Typhoons at Leuchars, but this could be delayed until 2014. With number 1 squadron going it could be that the next Typhoon unit to reform will be 1sdqn in 2014 (all to do with seniority and history).
Hercules will be gone by 2020 and replaced by 22 A400Ms.
VC-10 & Tristar will be replaced by 14 (IIRC) A330 Tankers on a Private Finance Initiative.
SAR is likely to go private as well.
RC-135s in 2013/2014
F-35 will go in to service 2020. No numbers have been released however people have rumoured/guessed about 40 aircraft. Prices of the plane are escalating, so it remains to be seen whether we, or any other countries will be able to afford it.

I believe the Lynx Wildcat and Chinook procurement will be going ahead.

Still a lot to be sorted out and confirmed. Reports in the Scotsman Paper today slate Leuchars for possible closure now.

[mackie1]

My mum took this pic of it sailing up the Tyne yesterday:

[thatone1967]

What a cool view out of your window!

[Simpo Two]

'For Sale - Entire British Navy. Must sell due to having spent all money on EU and welfare state'

Some banana republic will no doubt be scraping up its drugs money to buy it up.


Still, somehow back in the 70s I managed to defend the school grounds armed only with a .303 and one blank round. We can do it again chaps...