Strategic Defence Review - 2025

[C24]

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It isnt necessary to upgrade airfields using concrete

C17 & A400 aircraft land on many surfaces so the use of PSP matting would achieve the need at lower cost.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marston_Mat

[KarlADrage]

Didn't Wittering have runway, taxiway and 'infrastructure' upgrades done last year?

[Sw]

The first thing is to get the RAF training program back on track.We can not expect to train fast jet pilots overseas .Because any spare capasity will be take up by the home airforces doing what we are try to increase aircrew numbers quickly.

Then reopen any UK military airfield with a long runway and hardened aircraft shelters.To make targeting more difficult for a enemy. Also before they are operating as combat airfields some can be use as relief landing grounds for the training effort.
With a well dispensed airforce you need back up we will need a small cargo aircraft to carry spares and personal from central depots to the the airfields. This could be cheaply done by bringing back the Royal Aux Airforce to fly them.Beech 200/350 ?
Also with the Royal Aux Airforce you could have ex military aircrew and ground crew attached to transport ,AEW and tanker squadrons like the US do.

[Vulcanone]

The first thing is to get the RAF training program back on track.We can not expect to train fast jet pilots overseas .Because any spare capasity will be take up by the home airforces doing what we are try to increase aircrew numbers quickly.

Then reopen any UK military airfield with a long runway and hardened aircraft shelters.To make targeting more difficult for a enemy. Also before they are operating as combat airfields some can be use as relief landing grounds for the training effort.
With a well dispensed airforce you need back up we will need a small cargo aircraft to carry spares and personal from central depots to the the airfields. This could be cheaply done by bringing back the Royal Aux Airforce to fly them.Beech 200/350 ?
Also with the Royal Aux Airforce you could have ex military aircrew and ground crew attached to transport ,AEW and tanker squadrons like the US do.

Leuchars and Wattisham have HAS site and ARE still in use. Even if the Army possibly use some of them for storage at both. Boscombe Down still has HAS as does Newquay (ex RAF St Mawgan) other than that the others that have them are in use at Coningsby, Leeming and Lossiemouth. I don't think I have missed any airfields that had them. You can forget the USAF bases, Alconbury is slowly being turned into a housing estate. Upper Heyford and Bentwaters are no longer military owned either.

[thevulcan]

Honington has HAS.

[Vulcanone]

Ah Yes Honington forgot about that...

[Vulcanone]

Presume they are empty, although I have been there since 1992...

[Alf]

Honington has HAS.

Woodbridge and Marham too.

[Philly1971]

Woodbridge (runway and surround) still owned by the MOD as well I think. Looking on Google maps though and it does appear that the HAS have no blast doors these days?

[Thunder]

Doors are still there from what I can see on GE. Although the runway, taxiways and HAS’s are still there, they are no longer fit for purpose and would require vast sums of money to bring back into use as intended, probably be cheaper building a new base from scratch. Only 4 current viable options for basing any increase in FJ operations in the UK, are Leuchars, Leeming, Boscombe and Kinloss.

[Alf]

Doors are still there from what I can see on GE. Although the runway, taxiways and HAS’s are still there, they are no longer fit for purpose and would require vast sums of money to bring back into use as intended, probably be cheaper building a new base from scratch. Only 4 current viable options for basing any increase in FJ operations in the UK, are Leuchars, Leeming, Boscombe and Kinloss.

Yeovilton operated fast jets for many years in the past. Wittering too. Kinloss would need work on the runway as all the lights and ILS were removed once the temporary RAF P-8 residence ended.

[RNexpat190]

Does Upper Heyford still just have lots of cars stored on site but with all its hadware still there?

RN.

[Thunder]

Wouldn’t class Harrier/Sea Harrier operations in the same league as operating F-35A/Typhoon on a permanent basis. Are you sure all the runway lights at Kinloss have been removed? Even if they have been it would only cost a small amount of money in the grand scheme of things to replace, what’s important is that runway/taxiways and hard standings are for the most part structurally sound.

[Vulcanone]

Does Upper Heyford still just have lots of cars stored on site but with all its hadware still there?

RN.

I doubt it still belongs to the MoD for starters. And then they abandoned the idea of using Bentwaters and Woodbridge in the early 1990s after the USAF left. IIRC the Harriers from Germany and other assets were going to be moved there but the wiring system was US standards or something similar and the price to fix that was the proverbial nail in the C.....

Having lost 2 stepparents since the end of last July you should all work out the reasoning behind not using the C word

[Col Nago]

Leuchars is undergoing runway resurfacing work at the moment. Not surprising considering the amount of traffic it’s seen over the past few years.

It’s officially an Army base, and the end plan was to bring the Black Watch home from Germany to join the Dragoons, but I can see that getting canned due to the current climate.

[Thunder]

The Black Watch are at Ft George outside Inverness, have been for over 15 years

[Finty]

Just seen this. Clearest indication of F-35A consideration for the RAF we’ve had…

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-conf ... aaGm3uJ2NQ

[Agent K]

Just seen this. Clearest indication of F-35A consideration for the RAF we’ve had…

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-conf ... aaGm3uJ2NQ

Surely the clearest indication is that it was actually stated in the Strategic Defence Review document?

[Vulcanone]

Just seen this. Clearest indication of F-35A consideration for the RAF we’ve had…

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-conf ... aaGm3uJ2NQ

Surely the clearest indication is that it was actually stated in the Strategic Defence Review document?

Reading some of the comments on the Facebook version of UKDJ does prove that Social Media has sunk to the depths beyond Titanic... And the NATO Facebook page is even worse..... Still every village seems to have more than one now...

[TonyO]

Still every village seems to have more than one now...

Every village always had more than one, but now they have a voice.