Royal Air Force (RAF)

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Tornado’s two-seat teams – insights from the back seat

In the April 2019 issue of AirForces Monthly, Thomas Newdick spoke to two of the final navigators to fly the ‘Tonka’ – Flt Lts Phil McGlone and Sam Baker

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What the final role was for the last ever Tornado F3s that flew from Boscombe Down

In the July 2012 issue of Aviation News Editor Dino Carrara reported from MoD Boscombe Down on the work being undertaken by the last Tornado F3s in service anywhere in the world

9 Sqn RAF Tornado Feature Premium

Inside story of the world's first frontline Tornado squadron

Group Captain Peter Gooding (Ret’d) provides insights into the Tornado’s early RAF career as he tells Dino Carrara what it was like to be the boss of the world’s first frontline squadron flying the then new swing-wing bomber.

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Falklands Nimrods: a pilot's account of sub-hunting in the South Atlantic

Hunting for Argentinean naval threats to the UK’s Task Force during the Falklands War, the RAF Nimrod MR2 community largely stayed out of the limelight —but it did notch up a piece of air force history

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UK MOD told to consider advantages of operating mixed F-35A/B fleet

The UK parliament’s Defence Select Committee was told that the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review set out plans for the UK to buy 138 F-35B Lightning IIs. As of May 1, 2023, the UK had taken delivered of 31 F-35Bs, with a total of 48 due to be delivered by the end of 2025 as part of an initial Tranche 1 order

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RAF fast-jet training problems branded ‘farcical’ by new report

An engine fault on the RAF’s Hawk T2 advanced jet trainers has caused substantial delays in fast-jet pilot training and has cost the UK MOD more than £50m, a report by an influential group of British MPs has found

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UK MOD told to reverse cut in E-7A Wedgetail fleet size by British MPs

The decision by the UK MOD to cut its E-7A Wedgetail AEW1 fleet from five aircraft to three is “perverse” and must be reversed, the findings of an aviation procurement investigation has said

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RAF urged to mothball Tranche 1 Typhoons instead of scrapping them

The RAF’s Tranche 1 Typhoon FGR4 fighters should be mothballed rather than scrapped, an influential group of British MPs have concluded in a new investigative report

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UK MOD slammed for creating capability gap after axing RAF C-130J fleet

The decision to retire the RAF’s fleet of C-130J Hercules C4/C5 tactical transports earlier than originally planned has left a capability gap in air mobility tasks and special forces operations, a report by an influential group of British MPs has found

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UK airpower in crisis amid growing threat of war, MPs say

The state of UK airpower and its inability to counter the growing threat of war has been laid bare in a damning report by an influential group of British MPs