The Daily Mail has a fairly sensationalist article out about the future of the Reds
I have often wondered what aircraft they would move to and how that would be funded.
I switched off from this thread at this point.
7 Likes
So an interesting article but its pre defence review so there’s some manoeuvring going on by some “ex-RAF pilots”
Interestingly they list the airframe hours so has a bit of detailed logic behind it.
However I suspect that what would happen is that the non-red arrow hawks currently used in training are rotated over to the reds as they reach end of life.
Interesting was watching an American video comparing UK & US media. In the US the daily mail when compared to their other online media was stated as centralist/very slightly left of centre.
2 Likes
I thought all the Mk1 Hawks had gone other than the Reds’ airframes.
Whether there are enough Mk2s to replace the Mk1a, no idea. There seems to be issues with Mk2 availability anyway - something to do with shorter than expected engine life.
The Mk2s are not suited for the role. Due to aerobatic and g restrictions.
Plus there are only 28 of them.
The whole Black Fleet was retired in 2022, allowing spares to go to the Red Fleet, and to increase the total number of Reds jets to 16.
There is stock at Shawbury to rotate airframes.
Biggest issue with the jets are Fatigue Index (FI). Being in Enid isnt too much of an increase in FI, but if you think of the synchro pair and the rest of Gypo/Hanna, they are increased due to the manoeuvre demand. (Its all calculated on the computer post flught, depending on what Sortie Profile Code, Flight Hours, Red Position, etc is entered onto the F705)
3 Likes
Literally a whole hangers worth!
Fundamentally, it comes down to whether HM govt thinks that a service that’s supposed to be on a war footing should have 10% of it fast jet fleet as aerobatic display aircraft.
For me, every pilot, every loggie, every tech who involved in the RA is a pilot, loggie, and tech who isn’t supporting P-8’s in Iceland or QRA in Estonia.
That’s what matters, not people going oohhhh at an airshow - or indeed not going ‘ooohhh…’ because they’ve seen it all before.
4 Likes
The other problem is that you have to retrain the aircrew to fly analogue aircraft.
1 Like
I think the Typhoon and Chinook display teams do an excellent job (as did the Tucano when it was still in service).
I’d rather see them and have some more front line aircraft or advanced trainers if I had to choose.
4 Likes