FighterControl

Hi all,
I keep reading that all Hawk t1 and t1/a aircraft are shortly to be retired except for the Red Arrows ? What is the true story here ? Does that mean that all ex 100 Squadron and Fleet Air Arm air frames will become Red Arrows spares ? So then does it mean 100 Squadron may be equipped with early single seat Typhoons with a couple of two seat trainers for conversion purposes ? This would seam a good idea, except they will not present a different challenge as simulated aggressors, other than the tricks and experience held by 100 Squadron pilots which must be quite formidable in itself ! Perhaps someone can see through the fog of MOD information?
Cheers

That's about the top and bottom of it Rhubarb !

A number of Leeming airframes have been delivered to Valley for RTP. Even though 100 Sqn continue to be busy (also 736 NAS still flying) no direct replacements have been announced. The formal announcement described more synthetic training and tenders have been put out for aggressor training with a radar-capable platform. The websites have been buzzing with the adverts Draken have out there for staff & crews, based at Teesside (alongside the Falcon 20's). It seems there will be a gap of sorts in dissimilar combat training. I mainly feel for the Babcocks people employed at Leeming, the RAF people can be reposted (and some are reservists who may just retire?) but they will suffer as well - I was supporting recruiting events during the draw down of the F3 fleet and there was really low morale.

Thanks for your feed back.
Of course even if they use early single seat Typhoons for 100 sqd, its still a 50% reduction in flying jobs again., as seems to be all the rage at the air ministry since the Tornado. What is wrong with having weapons operator/navigators in the back seat ? Surely four Mk1 eye balls are better than two when the heat is on in combat ? Don't tell me an extra 11st matters with today's performance engines ! I have heard stories of single piloted Tempests controlling three drones ! There ain't no computer faster and more flexible than a dedicated proffessional back seater !
The RAF keep using that stupid TV advert for recruiting young people, yet they are constantly reducing the RAF jobs and airfields ! Where will it all end ? Putin has squadrons of Migs on QRA on the Ukraine boarder ! The MOD reduced our air force to a few Glosters in1930 ! Does history always have to repeat itself ?

100 sqn is scheduled to disband, they will not operate any Typhoons. With the defence cuts announced last year, the earlier Tranche 1 Typhoons that mainly operate with 9 sqn in an aggressor role are also scheduled to be withdrawn by 2025.

Have a look on the Military aircrew section of the Pprune website. There a large section there on 'Red Air' which might help you out.

Rhubarb wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 20, 2022 9:22 pm

Thanks for your feed back.
What is wrong with having weapons operator/navigators in the back seat ? Surely four Mk1 eye balls are better than two when the heat is on in combat ?

It's an interesting point you raise. Talking with one of the top RAF navigators a few years back, ex Phantom and Tornado F3, on this subject and said that as soon as he had a trip in a Typhoon T1, he knew the Nav/WSO days were numbered other than for specialist and deep penetration/strike roles. The level of automation left very little for a WSO to do. Think also about combat and where 4 eyes are better than 2, what - with todays technology and automation and stealth and protection systems - would a WSO be doing?, for ground attack it's often stand off with cruise weapons, or single pass strike, or CAS, and on A2A it's predominantly BVR with shared battle space systems (LINK) and picture. Interesting.