British Typhoon jets continue their patrols over Syria as part of the long-running Operation Shader.
Launched in 2014, Operation Shader is the UK’s contribution to the global coalition against Daesh (ISIS), operating across Syria and Iraq.
The primary role of this mission is to support allied ground forces and conduct air strikes against identified terrorist targets.
Typhoon jets continue to conduct patrols over Syria as part of #OpShader. The jets provide critical intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance data, as well as engage hostile targets when necessary. pic.twitter.com/8z1LTqYejg
— George Allison (@geoallison) May 18, 2023
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.
The Typhoons are being used hard. Will they last until Tempest is ready? Or should we, like Germany, be ordering some more now?
The Tranche 1 still have half their remaining flight hours on them!
Of course we need more Typhoons, particularly as the F353B seem so slow coming through. I wouldnt worry about their airframes though, they were designed to last 6500 hours. The Tranche 1 Typhoons were retired after having flown less than half that
Sky over Teesside last night sounded like there may of been a few Typhoons flying around really loud ,not sure if the Bears were near our Airspace.🤔
They’ve been up every night all week exercising with the Draken jets at Teesside Airport.
Cheers 👍
Why wouldn’t RAF use Tranche 1 Tiffies for Op Shader? Lack of integrated munitions? Accumulate maximum hours on least valuable portion of fleet, then donate them to Ukraine before fuselage/wings reach fatigue. Bitch (er ..reason w/) HMG Treasury for a one for one replacement w/ Tranche 4, using one their black AmEx cards. Simples! What is missing in this reasoning?
Just wait til Atlas does the work of Hercules as well as it’s other takings.
Too few assets mean they’re used hard, as there is nothing else.
Yes we should be ordering another batch.
Ideally we should be ordering 30 odd, to the new tranche 4 advanced build and bring all tranche 2 and 3 to the same standard…..
That’s an utter no brainer, what we will do is just pull the tranche 1 machines and hope for the best with even fewer Thypoons….
Not to worry, we always have headed No10 writing paper to write a harshly worded cutting letter to a potential aggressor…
The pen is mightier than the sword after all, but perhaps not mightier than new Thypoons!
2.35bn is being spent on RAF Typhoon phase 4 enhancements. That’s a serious investment.
Hi Robert,
I agree but there is just no escaping the fact we don’t have enough airframes. Even if the hours/airframe isn’t an issue, a Typhoon – even with the excellent Phase 4 enhancements – can’t be in two places at once. Even then, not all the current Tranche 2 and 3’s will get the Phase 4 upgrades – only 40 or so aircraft.
I’m a realist and I just don’t see an uptick in Typhoon numbers ever happening and in fact we’ll be very fortunate to get the ~70 F-35s as it is.
Unfortunately I can’t see more Typhoon’s being ordered which is a shame as they are fantastic jets. Would be great to see a 40-60 tranche 4 order but I think with the focus on Tempest and the question of how many F35 we will end up with, I don’t think the budget is currently there. I think best we can hope for is all the tranche 2/3 get upgraded
Unless a pot of extra cash is found then we won’t be purchasing more Typhoons. The focus is on updating the fleet we have and keep it capable out to 2040 and beyond.
Same money as 30 new builds…..
Yes, but the RAF will go for capability over numbers when we can’t do both.
It is utterly pointless having such capable multirole jets when the numbers are so low that in the event of war we wouldn’t dare divert them from air defence duties to carry out their other roles!
What was sold as a force multiplier has been twisted by the accountants to be a force limiter.
Totally agree…. If the UK was leaving NATO and going for Neutrality, then I would consider our fast jet capability ‘adequate’ for UK air defence.
I wonder how many Thypoons we could deploy on an enduring mission, over and above our Shader and NATO commitments????
I would think between 6 and 8 tops, without breaking the system…
As I’ve said before, at least a future Blair type character couldn’t get us involved in another pointless bloody war, so perhaps it’s not all bad news…..
Even in nato its barely adequate. If nato was defending against Russia what would we offer? Sweet fa! Considering our practically non existent SAM capability the typhoons would all be here defending our airspace
They will last. They are designed to be worked hard.
No, the chances of tempest ever flying are slim. Even if it does its going to be at least a decade late entering service.
That’s nonsense and you know it. Especially with Japan on board it won’t be cut.
I know nothing of the sort princess. Looking back on years and years of MOD money wasting dead ends I see nothing anywhere to inspire confidence.
Never underestimate the ability of politicians to completely ball’s up even the most promising of projects 🙄.
Path seems to be over Israel not Syria. They can use the turn to do a radar look over Syria but that is it.
Currently all the armed are really putting the hours/miles on the clock of the limited numbers of assets they have.. it does make me wonder if the savings now won’t come back to bite us. Jets and ships will need to be replaced more often
The Syria part of this mission flys under the news radar a lot. Excuse the pun. I wonder what the typhoons actually do that couldn’t be done by drones for example. How long will it be to finish the mission is seen as completed? Are the lines still moving or pretty static? Last time I saw news about it, the Kurds had the north and west, the free Syria group had a little bit near the med, ISIS had disappeared and the president forces had the rest. I think there are some American forces there in some places, not to… Read more »
I wouldn’t put a Sqn in the Far East. One we only have 8, and two, such a set up is very expensive.
Even Akroriri does not have a HAS complex, which ideally should be assigned 1 per Sqn given the cost of the aircraft.
Reapers also fly there and they have a SIGINT role as well as ground surveillance with weapons.
It’s a hot, dangerous area. A Fast Jet can do other stuff if it has to which a Reaper can not.
I will bow to your superior knowledge as a don’t know what a HAS complex is.
My thinking was with the Far East being the area of interest and defence deals being done out there, perhaps the RAF should have a force there. Maybe more training exercises will help practice with allies if we are putting out security guarantees.
Fingers crossed!
UK sets out Hawk recovery plan19 MAY 2023
LINK
RAF is sending pilots to train in Italy to International Flight Training School setup by Italian Air Force and Leonardo.
The contract was signed about a week ago.
Would someone please explain the apparent paradox of the RAF being ‘volunteered’ to train Ukrainian pilots, while at the same time evidently experiencing issues w/ throughput of own pilots in training. This does not compute to an outsider. 🤔
Government having little understanding of issues before making promises.
The U.K. government, PM etc don’t have much of clue about defence other than it’s something that costs money and can do what they ask it to.
How it will work in practice who knows.
Probably different training levels. Simulators…
And the answer is! F-16 fighter jets: Biden to let allies supply warplanes in major boost for Kyiv The US says it will allow its Western allies to supply Ukraine with advanced fighter jets, including American-made F-16s, in a major boost for Kyiv. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said President Joe Biden “informed his G7 counterparts” of the decision at the bloc’s summit in Japan on Friday. US troops will also train Kyiv’s pilots to use the jets, Mr Sullivan said. Ukraine has long sought advanced jets and President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the move as a “historic decision”. Countries can… Read more »
Thanks for the update 👍