RAF Tornado fleet 'faces axe' in bid to save £7.5bn
The RAF’s fleet of Tornado jets is expected to be grounded as a result of savage budget cuts imposed on the Ministry of Defence.
Scrapping the 120-strong fleet, which has been a mainstay of the RAF for more than 30 years, would yield cuts of more than £7.5 billion for the MoD, which has been ordered by the treasury to slash its spending by up to 20 per cent.
Grounding the Tornado would save billions more than withdrawing the Harrier jet, which is used by the RAF and Royal Navy, an assessment by the Ministry of Defence revealed.
Scrapping the Harrier Joint Strike Wing, which includes both RAF and Fleet Air Arm squadrons, would yeild only slightly more than £1 billion, according thot the internal document, which was leaked to the Times newspaper.
Both scenarios are thought to involve the closing of some military bases.
The proposed grounding of the Tornado jets would have a dramatic impact on the armed forces.
Losing the planes would halve Britain’s fast jet fleet - raising questions over the long-term viability of the RAF.
But sources close to Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, insisted that amalgamating the RAF with any other service would be ‘a bridge too far for any government.’
The internal document was drawn up as part of the continuing Strategic Defence Spending Review.
The Treasury is demanding the MoD find overall cost savings of between 10 and 20 per cent.
It was agreed by service chiefs and ministers at a meeting of the National Security Council last Saturday that scrapping one of Britain’s three fleets of fast jets would be unavoidable if the brutal savings are to be achieved.
The newest fleet, the Eurofighter Typhoon, is not thought to be under threat - forcing chiefs to choose between scrapping the Harrier or Tornado Jet fleets.
Last night MoD insiders insisted that no final decisions had been made about the scrapping of the jets.
But a senior source told The Times plans to scrap the Tornado were ‘finding favour.’
The Armed forces currently has a fleet of more than 200 jets, including 120 Tornados, 45 Harriers and 42 of the incoming fleet of Eurofighter Typhoons.
But the department has come under increasing pressure to scrap its ‘unaffordable’ equipment programmes.
Yesterday the treasury dismissed an attempt by Defence Secretary Liam Fox to have the estimated £20 billion cost of replacing the Trident nuclear deterrent removed from its core defence budget.
And Dr Fox has himself admitted that the economic crisis was such that the UK could nto protect itself ‘against every potential future threat,’
Last night a spokesman for the MoD said: ‘We do not comment on the content of leaked documents.
‘The SDSR is considering a wide range of far-reaching options but no final decisions have been made.’
Daily Mail, Last updated at 6:46 AM on 30th July 2010
(U2204/10 NOTAMN
Q)EGTT/QFAXX/IV/NBO/A/000/999/5310N00031W005
A)EGXW B)1008040830 C)1008041200
E)TORNADO ACFT OPR IN ATZ CONDUCTING HIGH ENERGY MANOUVRES)
(U2205/10 NOTAMN
Q)EGTT/QFALT/IV/NBO/A/000/999/5310N00031W005
A)EGXW B)1008040830 C)1008041200
E)NO VISITING ACFT ACCEPTED DUE TO TORNADO ACFT CONDUCTING HIGH ENERGY MANOUVRES WITHIN ATZ AND A RAF REGIMENT ROLE DEMO)
