Tornado F3 to go...

[C]

This may have escaped some people's radars, but we'll be all but saying goodbye to the Tornado F3 this autumn, as was announced last Thursday. The last two sqns, 43 and 111 will be disbanded, with a small force to cover Leuchars QRA and 1435 Flt in the Falklands until the Typhoon can cover both functions (by forming 6 Sqn at Leuchars in the next 18 months, and going down south at some stage).

May lead to a few interesting formations later in the year.

[ozzy72]

Could make for some interesting to-dos at airshows this summer 8-)

[Mictheslik]

Could make for some interesting to-dos at airshows this summer 8-)

Or, knowing the RAF it'll be done quietly to the uproar of the aviation community forcing them to do one last bow out [cough]jaguar[/cough] which Joe Public won't get to see much of....

.mic

[C]

Could make for some interesting to-dos at airshows this summer 8-)

Or, knowing the RAF it'll be done quietly to the uproar of the aviation community forcing them to do one last bow out [cough]jaguar[/cough] which Joe Public won't get to see much of....

.mic

To be honest it'd be far more complicated than people think, particularly as there's no recent F3 display to fall back on. It'll probably be gone before a work up and authorisation could be completed around the normal everyday work...

...and there are other things to spend the money on first. The RAF being seen to spend money on that may not go down well in military circles.

Sensible decision though, more so than the rumours a few months ago about the Harrier. All the F3 now does operationally is what they are keeping a flight for, so as long as they man it sufficiently, they should be able to continue the task until Typhoon can take it over. Not ideal (nothing ever is), but the most reasonable choice. IIRC late 2009/early 2010 was the initial out of service date anyway.