"50 RAF Typhoons to be additionally cut back"...

[Stratofreighter]

...just when you thought it couldn't get much worse than the October cutbacks...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/1 ... e-1bn-cuts?

Armed forces face further £1bn in cuts

Ministry of Defence to make extra reductions in addition to those anounced in spending review last year

Monday 10 January 2011 19.23 GMT

Typhoons only three years old may have to be scrapped as it will cost too much to update them.

The armed forces face the immediate prospect of having to make significant cuts – of well over £1bn a year – on top of those announced in October's defence review, it emerged today.

The Ministry of Defence faces a "nightmare" as it tries to cope with the extra shortfall in this year's planning round, a leading defence analyst said.

The "defence review has not done enough", Michael Clarke, director of the Royal United Services Institute, told a conference in London attended by senior military officers.

The annual gap between commitments and available cash for the armed forces over the next few years could amount to as much as £2bn, a situation Clarke described as unsustainable.

This year's planning round would be a "nightmare", he said.

Even with an increase now to bridge the immediate shortfall the military would need more later this decade to meet the objectives laid out in the defence review.

Under the review the current £38bn annual defence budget will be cut by about 7.5% over the next four years.

However, the review also laid out plans for a reduced role for the armed forces by 2020.

But even that would require a real terms increase in the defence budget in the years following 2015, military chiefs have insisted.

It has also emerged that the RAF is to scrap more than 50 Eurofighter/Typhoon jets which became operational only three years ago at a cost of more than £4.5bn because it cannot afford to update them.

An MoD spokeswoman said it did not recognise the figures on the immediate defence budget shortfall.
However, they were not challenged by senior military personnel present at the conference.

Nick Harvey, the Lib Dem armed forces minister, told the conference Labour had allowed a "massive unfunded liability in defence to build up".

That'll be a lot of "second hand Typhoons, one careful owner" for sale...

[frank kramer]

Perhaps the RNLAF could be of some assistance here; we seem to have developed a habit of buying real cheap used airframes that prove to be more expensive to update than expected (DC-10-30, C-130H...)

[Benjamin]

I bet they would still be cheaper then 50 JSF's.

50 typhoon's would be a nice start to replace the F16

[CR-74050]

I support your idea Benjamin. So, Hans Hillen, place a bid on e-Bay for these beauties!

Cheers, Dick

[Le Addeur noir]

Fire sale,entire air force for sale,all offers (including Chinese businessmen) considered.

[P.Terlouw]

hmm, very interesting option for our F-16 replacement.....

[patrick dirksen]

It will probably get a toned down roundel, but apart from that nice artwork!

[perrie]

Nice artwork indeed.
I like that option.

Per

[evhest]

Uit pure verveling:

[nilsko]

Looks good! What are we waiting for ?

[Polecat]

tranche 1 aircraft that can't be upgraded anymore at reasonable costs??!??
Never thought I'd say it , but than I'd rather get Gripens...

[Alpha Kilo One]

Depends on what you see as 'reasonable".

In fact the price (in my opninion) for that freaking JSF is not "reasonable".
Give us anything, be it Gripen, be it Rafale, be it Typhoon............

Ronald

[Le Addeur noir]

From a reliable source,the airplanes to be withdrawn by 2015 are the 53 tranche 1 ones.

This plan goes back some years and is not a new measure.

An attempt will be made to sell the airplanes,but customers at this time are not forthcoming.The Saudis have rejected an offer for these airplanes already.

[Hans Rolink]

True.
The RAF is to end up with around 100 Typhoons around 2020 according to SDSR, nothing new here. So the early Tranche 1 birds would be surplus according to the original plan.
In case of the Japanese, I would be tempted. Air defence only, two squadrons of F-4EJ Kais to replace.... The JSF is of little use to them, it being a Joint STRIKE Fighter seeking its place in the Japanese Air SELF DEFENCE Force....

Hans.

[Le Addeur noir]

True.
The RAF is to end up with around 100 Typhoons around 2020 according to SDSR, nothing new here. So the early Tranche 1 birds would be surplus according to the original plan.
In case of the Japanese, I would be tempted. Air defence only, two squadrons of F-4EJ Kais to replace.... The JSF is of little use to them, it being a Joint STRIKE Fighter seeking its place in the Japanese Air SELF DEFENCE Force....

Hans.

With aggression from both China and North Korea to contend with,don't assume the Japanese military will be Self Defense Forces perpetually.

Anyway,the Typhoon can deliver ordinance quite efficiently as well.

RAF Typhoon production as contracted=232 airplanes,minus 72 for the Royal Saudi Air Force=160,minus 53 tranche 1 examples=107 airplanes left.Still too many for projected RAF requirements.