Royal Air Force Typhoons have taken part in an unexpected relocation exercise to bolster the resilience of UK’s air defence.
As part of Exercise Agile Pirate, four Typhoons from XI(F) Squadron at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire received sudden orders to transfer to MOD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire.
Their mission was to be on Quick Reaction Alert – prepared to respond immediately to potential aerial threats close to UK airspace.
Air Marshal Harvey Smyth, Air and Space Commander, emphasised the exercise’s importance: “The whole series of Agile Pirate exercises are steppingstones to the RAF getting better and better at executing Agile Combat Employment. This exercise has shown we can move our Quick Reaction Alert around the UK, and future exercises will test other vital capabilities focused on defence of the UK.”
The RAF’s overarching goal with such exercises aligns with the strategy of Agile Combat Employment (ACE). ACE necessitates that RAF personnel and assets remain flexible and agile. As the press release mentioned, this strategy requires “operating in austere locations with minimal support, constantly moving and changing location to maintain the initiative, and outpace any action from an adversary whether in the UK or overseas alongside our NATO and Joint Expeditionary Force partners.”
Wing Commander Paul Hanson, Detachment Commander, reflected on the nature of the exercise: “Moving at pace presents its own challenges and we have pushed some assumptions to move even faster. Agile Combat Employment will change our current mindset and way of operating, and I think in many ways it will bring the very best out in our people; ready to deploy at shorter notice, taking part in more novel activity, and operating without the usual support structures of a main operating base.”
In readiness, the Typhoons were stationed in secure aircraft shelters. Upon receiving a scramble call from Tactical Air Command and Control (Tac Air C2), they were airborne within minutes.
This exercise is a bit odd but if this is what takes to keep the bad guys away then so be it .Another squadron of Typhoons I think this exercise saying .😀🇬🇧
In a war situation, it would be essential, as the enemy would target the operational raf bases and without much in the way of land based air defences they will be quickly taken out. At which point dispersion to any civilian air field available will need to be done to maintain air defenses, whilst in the meantime former bases are brought back to operational condition.
“operating in austere locations with minimal support”,
Boscombe Down is hardly ‘austere;. BD is a fully operational airfield. There’s a wealth of support and expertise already there.
There are plenty of disused ex-RAF airfields around the country, some occupied by the Army. Runways should be kept useable, fuel and other essentials could be pre-positioned these already active and secure locations. I guess fuel in bowsers will have to be replaced as it reaches its sell buy date but that wouldn’t be a problem. One has to assume that contingencies like this have already been addressed??
“pre-positioned at these…”
Just because they used BD, they wouldn’t have had the use of the stations full supporting functions. That’s the idea of the exercise. Everything is deployed at short notice. Engineers, Fire crews, Fuel, ATC, MT support ect Not just the aircraft and crews.
BD operates Typhoons regularly for trials and testing.
There as usually one or two there…..often the BAE test one which I think is there testing the new Radar2 system….?
So calling BD austere isn’t, well, true……
There are generic fuelling systems there as well. So it is totally set up for fast air……
I suspect they are all in such poor state that using them at short notice would likely risk damage to the planes. A risk worth taking in a war situation but in peace times just an unnecessary cost. I suspect if done right they could have restricted access to the bases existing gear and run the drill like it was using an abandoned airfield without the risks. I would guess the old bases could be brought back to semi usable in a matter of days if needed, just a matter of patching holes and moving kit there, might not be perfect but operational.
I think the idea is they bring their own support, we should have the deployable gear to support four Thypoons ‘off site’ with no problems.
I would imagine inflatable hangers, fuel bladders, tented accommodation, cook house, RAF regiment detachment, possibly local Army Reserve involvement too, ect etc, all set up in a quiet corner of the airfield.
If it’s not ‘ gone camping ‘ done properly, then theirs little point doing the exercise.
I would think the idea is to operationally deploy somewhere like Wellsborne for example, 6000 ft runway, but no facilities….
Hi John and Steve. Someone said,’In time of peace, prepare for war’. An old adage but still very apt today.
My point was that we should set up ex-RAF/current army bases as emergency flying stations.
For example, RAF Lyneham was closed several years ago and is now the home of the School of Army Aeronautical Engineering (REME). There are two long runways apparently still usable.
RAF Colerne, in Wiltshire, now an army base, still has a couple of shorter usable runways but they are scheduled to close in 2025.
The advantage of using these sites is that accommodation, cookhouse, IT and communications, hangarage, storage for POL, etc. are already available there and in current use.
These are just a couple of examples I found (it is Sunday afternoon, after all…).
Daniele would have a more comprehensive list, I’m sure. Although how long such bases would last during the first stages of war is a moot point…
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, a Roman general named Vegetius. Written somewhere between AD384 and AD389. As apt now as it was then.
Cook house, tented accommodation – no just make use of local facilities, In total war civilian infrastructure would be used – local hotels/leisure centres etc would be used. Civilian fuel trucks and other lorries taken over.
RAF Regt Rock Apes – have you seen the size of the Regt these days…. they will be too busy defending the main bases
BD is very austere I once had to stay in a 3* hotel when on detachment, instead of the usual 5*. It was a tough week, but somebody had to do it.
My word, that must have been difficult for you! My heart breaks LOL
Yes, it was tough. They even restricted us to 2 course meals. It was either a starter and mains or mains and pudding not both.
I’ll tell you about it some day.
100% agree, they are strategic assets that need to be maintained.
In WW2 squadrons frequently relocated within the UK. I guess if your station is bombed you’ve got to go somewhere else. A worthwhile exercise, I would have thought.
M8 We should maintain but we don’t and seldom do. Once upon a time most MOD bases were supplied with fuel by the GPSS underground fuel storage and distribution system. In 2015 the Government sold it to a Spanish company for £82 million. They signed a 10 year contract to continue using it and so far have paid £237 million for the privilege,
Look up Exolum pipeline for details.
There was one little thing in BW recent speech that he was justifiably proud of. He was proud to be a Tory who nationalised an absolutely vital UK industrial company and invest over £400 million in it. Otherwise it would fail and as the U.K / USN buy its products for their SSBN/SSN due to lack of an alternative.
Sheffield Forgemasters.
Maybe there is some hope.
That’s a shocking story about MoD selling off GPSS, then paying far more for use of the system. It is said that Exolum have decided to close down some of the pipelines, just to rub salt in the wound.
Almost every example of MoD having contracted out or privatised a service (whether PFI or otherwise) has been something of a disaster.
Not that sudden. The only issue was trying to find enough 5* accommodation in the Amesbury area for the pilots 😉😉😉
Hear that the RAF fighters are next up for Channel 4 docuseries, scheduled 2100 Monday 21st, I believe
All good practice stuff. You can bet your last King’s pound that if Vlad has any missiles left Lossiemouth, Coningsby, Brize Norton, Waddington, HMNB Clyde, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Coalport, RAF Boulmer, Fylindales will be high on the bad boys target list
Agreed. And with simultaneus strikes during the dead of night when everybody will be asleep in their 5* bunks. The only Typhoons left will be those in the air when it happens
Given the lack of accuracy demonstrated by the Russians targeting neighbouring Ukraine. I think the above stations are going to be just fine.
Not sure a nuke needs a great deal of accuracy Robert.
There’s not much anyone can do about nukes anyway.
First strike capability and launch on warning?
We would be all f@@@@d if that was to happen. But a great deal of politics would and international relations would have to go very very wrong long before we get to that.
And if they weren’t they are now!
Also seen on Twitter F35s operating from there at the same time. Apaches were also operating over SPTA though unsure if they were linked to this exercise and not just from MW which is not far to the east.
Boscombe has, as I’ve mentioned before, been a QRA designate location for many years.
It’s good to see, but the location is hardly austere, with one of the longest runways in the UK, HAS, and all the other facilities the ATEC and ETPS have access too.
SAOEU used to fly from there in the 90s, and there was a well publicised crash of something overnight in the mid 90s, which the USAF retrieved via C5.
I’d like to see the RAF operating from other civilian locations. We have plenty of ex flying stations still on the MoD estate with runways and all the facilities to operate jets to choose from, and BD was a safe choice.
What is needed Is more staff to deploy to these places, from logisticians to ATC to fire, armamants and all the rest. The RAF have all these pieces, but they’re in short supply if this type of “bare base” deployment becomes more common.
I wonder if there are any plans to put aircraft to other countries. How would Ireland be with some typhoons rocking up at an airport.
Extremely unlikely now but cold war thinking some aircraft got airborne then no where to land in the U.K.
The aliens that come from light years away only to crash at boscombe😂😂😂😂
No, that’s Roswell mate.
Boscombe Crash was most likely one of Northrop Grummans black aircraft, reportedly AV6, and looking like their failed YF23.
Well when you get ball deep into some of the crazy conspiracy peoples thoughts some think it’s was an alien tech craft and that’s why the USAF came to recover it😂😂😂😂😂😂
Thanks for the aircraft number. Time for a google search.
You won’t find anything beyond the AFM in depth investigative article that identified air vehicle 6.
It was also known as Astra.
MoD say it was a Tornado landing with a damaged tail pod that caused the a303 to be closed, A109s from Hereford to arrive, the area surrounded by plod,then the USAF galaxy to take the wreckage away.
The c5 was assigned to Palmdale, exactly where some of these black craft are built.
No coincidence.
The frontal section of the plane was seen in the hanger viewable from the spotters car park, which I’ve frequented many times.
Yes, Boscombe has an interesting history alright.
Of course, one rumor had spacecraft and alien remnants in storage w/in a hanger located at WPAFB. Wonder whether sponsored or self-guided tours are available? 😉
(From the Roswell incident.)
… hangar…🙄
Rumours? Witness accounts mate. Hundreds of them, from the people who flew the wreckage.
No. No guided tours. Senator Barry Goldwater tried and his friend Curtis LeMay gave him hell for even asking.
Why with all of the NATO partners to pick would a nation with zero support capacity for any fighters be picked? As to the answer, most likely told politely to feck off up to NI or back to GB before the Government would have to make an awkward choice.
Even at the height of the Cold War the only time Ireland was considered was either RAF Sea Kings doing rescue work or the UK did ask for permission for Nimrods to operate from Irish airfields, which was refused.
That’s why we set up Expeditionary Airwings when deploying overseas. It brings all those elements together. 👍
Yes mate. Are they still a thing? Most of the main stations had their own.
And if the EAW is deployed can the station still run? Or are all the wings personnel deployed within the EAW?
Hi mate. Yes. EAW’s are still a thing. The RAF currently has 5 EAW’s deployed overseas. And the station can still operate. Usually, gaps are filled from the wider RAF for overseas deployments.
Thanks mate. I was under the impression the home station would be inoperable as so many staff of the stations wings would need to go into the EAW.
An EAW (No. 904?) was based at Bastion when I was there in 2008-9.
EAWs have to still be a thing as the RAF still do (or is prepared to do) expeditionary ops.
There is a case for buying some Saab JAS 39 Gripen.
First M2 speed.
Max Height 50,000 f
Range 3000 km
Lastly very handy – They can take of and land on roads, motorways, in fact lots of places.
Back up for refueling and inspection is simplified.
Range is more like 300km not 3000. its designed for defence of Sweden not something like a UK AIS
Range 3000 km as far as I can tell – I am providing link – Has a combat radius of 800 km.Mack to + than can land on roads lanes is a good option for UK Defense.
I am not saying instead of the typhoon, as well as.
These jets are for countries with low defense budgets, UK is not low but not much get spent on new kit, Ajax excepted.
BTW Gripen are pushing for exports, not just building for defense. My view is with the state of Europe – We should have as much kits as possible.and affordable.
https://aircraft.fandom.com/wiki/Saab_JAS_39_Gripen
On the subject of runways, bugging out to former RAF Silloth in North Cumbria would be good training and would give you the no gain without pain factor. Now, that is up there with austere.
And there’s something to be said for living out of a maggot for a week – tiredness creeps in, and drills and skills need to be maintained by the whole unit.
Does BD give you that experience?
Blackpool Airport is another airport with a decent runway, recently used by Jet 2 – Keep out jets apart where we can.
Bit near the BAe site, don’t you think?
Yes would be near Warton just 7 miles from Preston.. I see your point but I believe it could be handy to have a squadron of Typhoons at Blackpool near Warton and also Barrow. Blackpool used to be a military airfield.
I had thought about Walney – although the runway looks hillier than a bmx trail AND just next to… BAE Sub systems; if no one gave the good news to the tiffies, they would certainly give the good news to the DDH.
Hence, the old RAF Silloth – which is miles from anywhere, and could take an A400 landing with equipment.
I’l say RAF Silloth ” is miles away from anywhere – it’s in Cumbria.
Mind you I think you can see Cumbria from Blackpool – Walney .
Blackpool until recently was a commercial airport, I used a lot. Now it’s private jest, Choppers and Choppers to the oil rigs.
I would imagine it would handle Typhoons with ease. RUNWAY 10/28 1,868 m’s shorter 2nd runway.
I am sure there are enough usable airports in UK>
I’ve flown from Blackpool to… Prague(?)
Walney, I can see as I live on the Duddon – in… Cumberland…
(stupid renaming that’s costing £££).
Silloth, nothing happens in Silloth – perfect location.
I flew to every destination from Blackpool, was a good easy airport, Quite a few destinations – I did not fly to Prague as I never flew inland anywhere,
Not a lot bar Red Arrows and air ambulance and private flights now, there is not even a terminal anymore – it’s now an Enterprise Zone..BB ruined the airport along with Blackpool council.
It has facilities and that would be good. Nothing does happen in Silloth – There is Kirkbride Airfield also, have they been used since the 1950s
ScScScScScotland!!! Wash your mouth out!
😉
Ha Ha, should have known 🙂
West Freugh.
I’d never heard of that, Daniele, thank you.
Hi David.
Yes, it is an old DERA airfield, now QinetiQ.
Used to have the QinetiQ SGS Satellite Ground Station, and other bits and pieces. Is close to Luce Bay range, and Kirkudbright is not far to the east.
I only mentioned it due to your mention of Warton. Some “interesting” flights occurred in the 90s from Warton’s SPS to West Freugh.
You tease, you.
M8 Be serious West Freugh, ! I was born about 12 miles away and even I wouldn’t want to be based there. It’s a bleak, blank, open, windy, god forsaken dump of a place.
How to get RAF AWOL stats in one go, not a decent pub for miles.
If you want a remote base in Scotland that comes as a very des res then try Maccrihanish huge runway and decent fishing too.
Seriously though there are several ex RAF bases that are all maintained and available for rapid dispersal.
Kinloss, Leuchars and Leeming for starters as all have HAS and then there are those that the USAF and ANG would use.
Plus I’m fairly sure Wittering still has its runway maintained and add in St Athan, Bedford and Valley (nice beach and decent diving). Not sure about Honnington these days which is a shame because it has lots to offer with HAS and not far from London and the Norfolk Broads.
If you want to go civilian then Finningley is available or for a very popular Summer location try former RAF St Mawgan at Newquay which still has HAS and a long runway (Surfing and Cream Teas).
Lots of places to hide away really.
We’re talking about the RAF – This would be the one chance they have to rough it for a week and really understand what wearing a uniform entails; we don’t want them to have 5* and recreation, make ’em suffer and RAFR force protection would get the good news too!
Have you ever been there ? No cover, no dispersals, nothing and every drop of fuel has to go up by road. It’s just completely open.
A key point, if the field is not linking to the GPSS then that is not great!
Lol, we’re talking of remote dispersal in the NW, re Ernst and David’s convo.
Indeed, aware of all those others, I’ve listed them before, and all strategic assets with plenty of the infrastructure in place that need to remain on MoD estate.
Mac is still used for training, and we all know the rumours about that place.
Add Chivenor to that list, and Woodbridge, Wattisham, plenty of others if I can be bothered to have a think and make a list.
No HAS at Kinloss mate, though it’s a huge dispersal area.
Wittering has runway in use, as EFT there.
Hi mate.
My earlier reply was a rushed headed out the door to work affair.
Now I have driven to work and have given it more thought.
I think we also need to bare in mind the calls from many on this thread for use from more austere locations. There is bare base, then there is very bare base! We have many runways, with varying degrees of infrastructure, that may already be potential targets as they are still the MoD estate.
Yes, as you say lots of places to hide away. I can think of, and adding yours and some of Crabfats to this list, ranging from des res as you say as ex RAF fast jets to the more basic!
Kinloss. No HAS, but big dispersal.
Leeming. Ex Fast Jets, all the trimmings and HAS.
Leuchars, as above.
Woodbridge. Has HAS, not used for decades, unsure on status of Runway but have seen RAF transports use it.
Wattisham. HAS, ex Fast jets.
St Athan.
Old RAE Bedford. Unsure on the status of this.
Boscombe Down. Ideal as it is a QRA designate.
Macrihanish. Long runway, no HAS. Has a direct fuel pipeline to it from POL Campbeltown.
Aldergrove. Civilian airport mostly.
Lyneham, as mentioned by CrabF, some of its taxiways are blocked with REME training aids!
Colerne, as mentioned by CrabF.
Cottesemore, now Kendrew Barracks.
Barkston Heath.
Honington. Has HAS, unsure on runway.
St Mawgan. Has HAS.
Chivenor. Now RM Bks but I believe the runway is still useable for transports.
Wittering. The EFTS UAS set up is concentrated there.
Northolt.
Kemble. Are old warbirds still stored here?
Llanbedr. Old DERA site akin to West Freugh, used to fly drones. Austere is not the word.
MoD Aberporth. Has a small runway, has flown Watchkeeper but unure what else it could take.
Warton, obviously is more than capable!
Stornoway. No idea on its status now, F3s used it in the 80s.
We also have to bare in mind which of these it would be easy to supply with fuel, the old GPSS Government Pipeline Storage System links into many of them.
Then you have the MoDs SHF helicopter stations that people often do not realise also have runways.
Odiham.
Benson.
Yeovilton, obviously, with its SHAR links.
Culdrose.
Valley, as mentioned obviously, but also
Mona, its RLG nearby.
Shawbury.
Cosford.
Then the grass airfields on MoD Estate for assets we have that can land on that surface.
Middle Wallop.
Netharavon.
Upavon.
Chetwynd. Little known, a RLG for Shawbury, I’ve seen a Herc here.
Syerston. The RAFs original 4 King Airs were first sneaked into here.
There are even more ex airfields like Brawdy, Abingdon, North Luffenham, Ouston ( Harlow Hill ) and Ternhill to think of five, though I think they’ve been army for so long they are no longer usable for fixed wing and the runways in a state.
Probably others that escape me at the moment.
It is not a shortage of runways, I’d say more a shortage of people to deploy to them from the many branches and trades needed to run a det, and the modern elf and safety mantra that may rear its head if they ever decided to try operating from stretches of A road and motorway with live weapons in a bust congested country like the UK. Which is why I thought West Freugh ideal! Even though Stranraar is just up the road!
Main issue is the runways are both inactive and have been for years and even when they were the main one is 6000ft. There are no hangers, disposals, trees etc etc.
And yep Stranraer is up the road. It’s basically just a satellite earth station these days and occasionally used by helicopters and parking for exercises.
On the other hand beach casting for Seabass was fun near Port William when the Marines were playing with Swedish assault boats a few years ago.
As a local did you hear of the FT Flying Triangle UAV trials arriving there?
I was born there, have family up there(seems like half the county) but raised in Derby and that’s where I live and have had my working career.
West Freugh was always a bit odd, and there have always been rumours about various things but trying to find anything solid is like looking for rocking horse manure.
I was on holiday up there in the 80’s when they tested the 1st CIWS, many locals thought the noise was aliens.
LOL, where did they test it? Kirkcudright?
Nope West Freugh it was fired down the centre of Luce Bay toward the Scares Rocks, it was only years later anyone found out that they also tested 20mm DU ammunition during the trials. A few years later they tested the 120mm DU at Kirkcudbright, then cluster bombs and all, sorts of stuff.
But we are all assured that there is zero risk to the locals.
To be perfectly honest it’s a drop in the ocean (sorry for the pun) compared to what was dumped in the Beaufort Dyke in the 40’s to the early 60’s.
Made me laugh when Bo Jo suggested building a bridge from Port Patrick to Northern Ireland, right over the greatest concentration of munitions and other nasties in Western Europe. Clueless Idiot !
Just a typical BJ grandstand, like the expanding RN. If it had ever had any guts behind it advisors would have dampened down the suggestion.
Good posts on the WF point with your local knowledge. Good insights.
To give you some idea of what an idiot he is the famous SS Richard Montgomery is in the Thames Estuary and contains @1400 tons of TNT (equivalent to a small 1.4KG Tactical Nuke) so it’s bloody dangerous.
The Beaufort Dyke contains (you may want to sit down), 1,000,000 tons of ordinance plus, phosgene, mustard gas etc etc and some Nuclear waste just to add to the mix. So basically it’s a 1 Megaton Dirty Bomb.
So BJ had the feasibility study done to build his bridge and they realised that they needed to avoid any chance of piling bridge footings near that little lot.
So a massive underwater recovery would have to take place in the areas of ocean floor to be piled. And in order to safely span the Dyke at its narrowest would require a 4km single span. That is twice the span of any previous bridge.
The bit that really nixed it was that sometimes some of the items come up to the surface and go bang or bubbles of gas escapes to the surface.
Not sure if the Highway Code has a warning sign for driving over exploding ordinance or clouds of God
knows what !
Regards the SS RM and the Thames Estuary, BJ also wanted to build an airport there instead of expanding Heathrow, I don’t know how close said planned site would have been to the SS RM.
It was supposed to be built on the Isle of Grain and reclaimed land to the east and North to all 4 to 6 parallel runways running east / west.
The wreck is @ 2 miles due east so smack under the flight paths.
In fairness if it wasn’t for that then it would be a pretty decent site, no overflight in central London and as it is mainly over water far fewer restrictions.
They were also going to need to build road / rail links and a new town for the workers cost @£100 billion.
OK he got us out of the EU but antagonised most of the EU and it may take decades to get sorted.
To be fair mate, the way the EU behaved, there was always going to be friction, and there was downright obstruction on Barniers part. Operation punishment is a thing. The EU did not need antagonizing any more than they were already.
The exact opposite is downright acceptance of all their demands. It’s supposed to be a 2 way thing amongst allies.
On the airport, I was against it for its environmental impact on the wetlands, something which I think the Tories care not a jot considering the rate Bees are dying out with their pesticide rules.
Anyway, none of this is of defence significance. West Freugh to ….!
I’d add Ronaldsway on the IOM, everyone forgets about it. As for Bedford it’s like Lutterworth covered in 000’s of cars.
The bit that really gets to me about this exercise is the glaringly obvious Elephant in the Back Garden.
If you disperse to just the obvious sites such as Leuchars, Leeming, Honnington and St Mawgan you have all the fast jets in HAS and no enemy knows which ones to hit. Which is pretty damn good.
But when you consider that the Ukraine still has an operating AF after 18 months of up close interdiction and everything that Russia has hurled at them. You have to ask why do we need to disperse at all if Ukraine hasn’t ?
Then we all remember that the U.K. has no effective SAM network and that is why we are doing this.
On your last para, I understand UKR have dispersed, they move their remaining aircraft regularly to avoid targeting.
Good point on the HAS we have available.
Ronaldsway….one I have never heard of!
It’s a civilian airport but most folks forget it exists.
Good, skills and drills which were routine 30 plus years ago, now essential considering the realisation that there was no such thing as the peace dividend, Russia is headed by a psychotic nonce nutter and our low platform numbers. More of the same please.
There never was a “Peace Dividend” – I remember Thatcher saying UK would re-arm, if Gorbachev was not released.
If Putin was toppled you can bet, nothing would change maybe Russia would eb more belligerent.
We cut all 3 defence arms for a peace dividend than never was, and nobodyis learning.
That’s not true, I was impressed by General Sir Patrick Sanders when he was speaking at RUSI…
Ah, the pollies are getting rid of him; came across as a good soldier.
The peace dividend was terminology by politicians to cut and reduce spending, there is always a threat, but it was can opportunity to save money, simple as that.
Back in tge 70’s a dispersal exercise involved all the aircraft on the station. 3 or 4 squadrons departing one after another was a noisy sight.