British Typhoon jets continue their patrols over Syria as part of the long-running Operation Shader.
Launched in 2014, Operation Shader was set up to support allied ground forces and conduct air strikes against identified terrorist targets.
Since the commencement of Operation Shader, the Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoon jets have played an integral part in the UK’s efforts.
Over the years, these advanced multi-role combat aircraft have flown countless sorties, providing critical intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance data, as well as engaging hostile targets when necessary. British military aircraft spent a combined 16,255 flying hours against Daesh in Iraq and Syria over the last year.
Last year, we reported that the Ministry of Defence had announced that the UK’s role in Iraq and Syria will evolve following the conclusion of the Global Coalition’s military mission against Daesh.
Over the next 12 months, the UK will transition into a bilateral security partnership with Iraq, however, future RAF strike operations remain under discussion as the UK transitions to the new bilateral relationship with Iraq.
In a previous statement, the Ministry of Defence said, “We pay tribute to the professionalism of UK personnel who have played their part in the Global Coalition. Thanks to the bravery and effectiveness of the Iraqi Security Forces, Peshmerga, and the coalition’s continued commitment, Daesh has been territorially defeated in Iraq. The ISF has enabled the restoration of critical services for communities and the rehabilitation of conflict-affected areas.”
The MOD also further clarified that “the UK will continue to support the security of Iraq, as the Global Coalition enters a new phase. The UK will work closely with our Iraqi partners to develop an enduring bilateral relationship during the coming months, as part of the transition to a new security and defence partnership with Iraq”.
The UK’s involvement in Operation Inherent Resolve has seen forces provide training and assistance to more than 111,000 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), including 21,000 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, in areas such as counter-IED tactics, weapons maintenance, and medical training.
While the Global Coalition’s military mission will formally conclude over the next year, “the UK remains committed to developing a bilateral security relationship with Iraq, ensuring the long-term defeat of Daesh and the stability of the region,” the MOD reaffirmed.
Burning through the hours still.
That is just what I was thinking, hours the RAF don’t have.
Obviously I know it’s not the right platform because of the lack of air to ground capability but Shame the RAF couldn’t have used up some of the flying hours on the tranche 1’s before they retire early later this year
The RAF has less than 10 T1s in service. 4 in the Falklands. And the rest are on the OCU. Many were retired years ago. The 4 T1 jets in the Falklands will remain until 2027 before replaced with T2/3 jets.
It’s more about fatigue than the hours. The fatigue index is what uses up life. Not the hours flown. Aircraft like Tornado became G limited pretty early in life because pulling sustained high G was using up airframe life. Not the hours flown. Tornado was not designed for lots of sustained 7G manoeuvring. In the early days of the F3, they fitted the 1500lt tanks to limit G to 4/5 G because they were eating up so much airframe fatigue. With careful management, it didn’t become such a problem in the longer term. Typhoon, on the other hand, was designed for lots of sustained 9G manoeuvring. Its FBW won’t allow the airframe to be over stressed. The RAF/BAE Systems have a very clever computer model to manage fatigue. Typhoon airframes have spent thousands of hours in the airframe stress facility at Brough until the wings arw at the snapping point. After 20 years of operations. Typhoons can still pull 9G all day long with no restrictions. On operations like Shader, jets can go into positive maintenance hours because so little stress goes through the airframe on long flights over the desert, flying in straight lines. The mean time between failure is very high (high is good) because of advances in technology. Fatigue on Typhoon is not a problem. Hours are not a problem. If a Typhoon hits 6000 flying hours, it doesn’t mean it just stops flying. If its fatigue index is well within engineering tolerances, it’s good to go. Plus, flying hours could well be extended to 8000 or 10:000hrs. fatigue is the airframe killer, not the hours flown.
Airframe hours is a very good indicator, it’s used as a method of averaging fatigue from airframe cycles…the fatigue comes mainly from the cycle ( takeoff and landing..and a bit from in between)…the 6000 hours is worked up from average cycles…yes some airframes may go over the 6000 hours… because they would have flown a lot long, low load, higher altitude strait and level flights..but that’s not how the typhoon fleet has been use..it’s been used hard…high load take off and landings and activity in combat zones and as a QRA in a time frame Russia has pushed incursions hard…with a very small fleet and a tiny sustainment flee, with massive levels of usage beyond any fleet before it ( the 300 airframe tornado fleet would burn around 13,000 hours a year, the 100 typhoons are burning 23,000 and tornado was tested against around 30% more cycles than a typhoon) so spread across the fleet it’s very likely that 6000 hours will be the frame life. The RAF did a hell of a lot of work to push the frame life beyond 6000 hours and for the last decade it’s been radio silence for a very good reason. I’m a person who’s job it has been to make sure organisations don’t live in the “maybe” and let’s “hope” it will be ok world…only in the “we must ensure it is ok” world….my impression is HMG is very much working in the “let’s hope it will be ok” zone and that is not acceptable.
It’s not as simple as hours mate. See my reply below Jonathan’s.
The airplanes are still life limited by hours as well. It’s a whichever comes first scenario. There is currently nothing to take the aircraft beyond 6,000 hours. BAE has studied a SLEP to take the plane to 10,000 hours, however, no one has spent the money on it, and it won’t be cheap.