There hasn’t yet been a vote.

The only convenient place, what with us not having any aircraft on carriers, from which to fly if we wanted to bomb IS in Iraq, would be Cyprus.

The Tornadoes were sent there in August.

It’s always been cyprus.

With various fronline aircraft based there pretty much all the time I thought.

presumably, redeployment of *some* resouces is always done speculatively

wonder what the fate of the second carrier will be, given the IS conflict?

Always been Cyprus as @Stoner says. My mate has done a few tours there. That’s why we have a big base and permanent presence in Cyprus, for exactly this sort of action.

Yes I thought we based aircraft there for that exact reason…

Always been Cyprus

Yeah I know a few guys who’ve done stints there, ok so let’s not get all conspiracy theory yet, but…does anyone know how many tornadoes etc are normally there and are there suddenly more than usual since august?

RAF Akrotiri
Provides joint support to British Forces Cyprus and Operations in the region in order to protect the UK’s strategic Interests.

Station Commander: Group Captain P D Kennett MA RAF

Mission Statement: Support Operations Today, Prepare for Tomorrow.

RAF Akrotiri is an extremely busy Permanent Joint Operating Base that supports ongoing operations in Afghanistan as well as support for the Sovereign Base area on the Island of Cyprus. It is used as a forward mounting base for overseas operations in the Middle East and for fast jet training.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28758370

There are 6 there now I believe so not exactly battle of Britain numbers. Mind you 6 Tornadoes can do a lot of damage. Been a lot of ordnance flown in as well.

Why, anyone would think parliament’s ‘approval’ would be taken for granted…

There were 6 repeatedly low flying around the Lakes earlier in the week – usually only get 2 at a time. Very low flying Hercules as well, which is a bit spooky when out riding in the dark

prior planning prevents…etc.

Military forces and stores are constantly moving around the globe in an attempt to stay ahead of the curve.
Waiting for votes before even planning/moving would make the military pretty useless, let alone gift a massive window of opportunity to our enemies.

Guaranteed that there’s an sneaky submarine in a convenient place to launch cruise missiles right now too

you can guarantee they are ready and in place and probably already in the air when we officailly announce action.

There are 6 there now I believe so not exactly battle of Britain numbers.

That’s probably 80% of the flight worthy aircraft available to the RAF!

You think all 6 are usable right now!?

😉

Don’t worry, I’m off to Cyprus on Sunday and I’m taking my bike kit and multi-tool.

Given how elderly our “fleet” of Tonkas is, they probably went south for some winter sun to help with their rheumatism……. 😉

That’s probably 80% of the flight worthy aircraft available to the RAF!

According to this, that suggests a terrifying combination of terrible maintenance and lying …. are you semi-serious? 😯

Aircraft numbers, from 2012

We’ve had RAF bases on Cyprus since my dad was posted there in tbe 50s.

You are jivehoney and I claim my five pounds.

The Tornados have been flying reconnaissance missions already from Cyprus. They also have a Rivet Joint flying out of Qatar. And according the the BBC there is a Trafalgar class sub in the area and special forces on the ground for recon and intel.

The US are apparently flying U2’s out of Cyprus as well. Plus you can assume the NSA/GCHQ base in Cyprus is pretty active right now.

The US are apparently flying U2’s out of Cyprus as well.

That’s probably the only way they can get that new album off their iPhones 😉

There is nothing wrong with a bit of planning ahead, chances are there is quite a bit more to preparation than flying 6 little planes down to the med and cracking open the ouzo. If they waited until after the inevitable yes vote, and then turn around and say they’ll be ready in a few weeks, it would be pretty silly, irrespective you your views on the matter (mine being no thanks).

Can’t believe we are still relying on Tornado. Our firm only played a tiny part in Typhoon but I know how much money we raked in. Also involved in JSF but don’t tell anyone and that’s the same money pit. I’d love to know how much money is wasted on these projects.

Is the Typhoon actually certified for ground attack these days (bare in mind that ground attack is a secondary role for it)? Think it is, but cannae remember

Not too surprising is it? We maintain the armed forces in order to have some capacity to actually do stuff like drop bombs on people every now and then. Their job is to be ready to do that, which means keeping an eye on what’s going on and shuffling things around as necessary, which they appear to be doing (if there are now more Tornadoes there than there usually are).
Doesn’t mean the vote is a sham.

s the Typhoon actually certified for ground attack these days (bare in mind that ground attack is a secondary role for it)? Think it is, but cannae remember

The honest answer is, I don’t know but shirley they can’t have planned to rely on the old swing wing for ground attack into the 21st century? It’s a decent bit of kit but must be getting a bit long in the tooth now.

I guess we keep the good stuff (Eurofighter) to protect ourselves and then use the older, cheaper but more than capable stuff (Tornado) for those missions where they’re adequate and less expensive to replace if it does go wrong.

this^^ tbh, dropping the odd smart bomb on some Jihadists hardly requires the latest tech now does it! The Tonka was designed to penetrate, at low level & high speed, the heavily defended Soviet Block countries, that had a massive early warning capability (radar). In comparison, scooting across Syria or Iraq to drop bombs on some people living in huts / caves isn’t exactly too testing…..

The problem is what that actually achieves?

I don’t know much about RAF movements, but do know a bit about the Navy, as we help to keep their fleet going.

As reported on the BBC, there is a T-Class sub in the gulf, and there is always at least 1 x full sized surface platform (T45/T23) in that area.

I’m pretty sure the Tornadoes will be in action tonight assuming they get a Yes vote.

Personally I think they shouldn’t be doing it.
ISIS is an Arab problem, and the Arabs should sort it out.

Good job surface to air missile technology hasn’t evolved in the last 20 or so years then eh? I’m sure you are correct in your assumptions but these Jihadists have some quite capable weaponry at their disposal. Unless we are going to adopt the American approach of bombing from maximum ceiling and sod the consequences.

ISIS is an Arab problem, and the Arabs should sort it out.

And how many innocent Arabs are you prepared to watch die?

less expensive to replace

What do you suppose you replace a Tornado with? They’re not quite a stock item any more…

According to this, that suggests a terrifying combination of terrible maintenance and lying …. are you semi-serious?

Sometime in 93-94 I was at RAF Leeming when they launched 20 Tornado F3’s for a flypast for the queen/d-day or something. They had to launch 20 to get 16 there (2 didn’t even make it out of the circuit due to nose wheel lack of retraction). Gossip was they had to cannibalise just about everything on the base to get 20 up, and even had to borrow from elsewhere – and this was from a front-line QRA airbase with 3 squadrons “ready to go at a moment’s notice”.

And that was 20 years ago when we sort of had some semblance of an airforce.

We won’t be sending more than 6 now cos we simply don’t have enough to send.

Given that IS have had western hostages for months now, suspect that very visible Tornadoes are the very least that has been prepping in Cyprus in that time.

Lack of preparation for Gulf War II was one of the lessons learnt. Buying desert boots ahead of time doesn’t mean you’re going to invade, it’s just a prudent preparation in case you chose to do so.

“The British are aiming to upgrade their Typhoons to be able to carry the Storm Shadow cruise missile and Brimstone air-to-ground missile by 2018 to ensure they have manned aircraft configured with strike capabilities with trained crews by the time the Tornado GR4 is retired the following year;”

Storm Shadow is an expensive bomb to be firing at men on the move though. I’d have thought you’d want eyes on the target for bombing to be effective. Unless they are planning on hitting any infrastructure IS have put together.

Edit D’oh 2018 my mistake

The RAF Typhoons were declared combat ready in the air-to-ground role by 1 July 2008.[163] The RAF Typhoons were projected to be ready to deploy for operations by mid-2008.[161]

More airstrikes please.

Someone should also deploy A-10 Thunderbolt II to slice off some of those on the ground …

US F-22 Raptor is a light weight apparently without the ability to carry enough bombs.

ISIS is an Arab problem, and the Arabs should sort it out.

Where do the Kurds, Turks and Persians fit into your neat equation?