During Iran's long-range strike on Israel, the British Air Force participated in the interception of air targets, although the Ministry of Defense, citing secrecy, refused to respond to parliament's request for, Did Tel Aviv ask for this?.
Typhoon fighters were used to repulse this attack., that, according to the official statement, “intercepted a certain number of drones”. At the same time, the planes operated from the Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus, where they were transferred from Romania, not from Britain. This made Western observers doubt the sufficient number of combat-ready aircraft.
This incident highlighted the shortage of fighter aircraft in the Royal Air Force- Opex360 edition says.
As indicated, Currently they have at their disposal about 30 F-35B and 137 Typhoon. Already in 2015 year, When did the decommissioning of the latter begin? 87 Tornado fighter-bombers, Doubts have been expressed about the ability of combat aircraft to meet its many operational responsibilities: defend British skies as Russian strategic bombers approach, participate in NATO programs and in its own military operations.
At the same time, the military department intends to decommission 30 oldest Typhoon aircraft. Regarding the F-35B, then the order for 26 additional copies, whereas it was originally planned to purchase a total of 138 units.
We have only 137 Typhoon and due to a lack of budget funds, the Ministry of Defense plans to decommission 30 of which next year. This is the equivalent of selling a Spitfire before the Battle of Britain- said Conservative MP Mark Francois, enjoys great authority in the country on issues, defense related.
Drawing an analogy to the British World War II fighter Spitfire, fought the Luftwaffe, MP calls for Typhoon to be scrapped, requiring, as a last resort, to send them for storage.
A House of Commons report was recently published, according to which the country's air force will no longer be able to play a significant role in a high-intensity conflict:
Reduced air capacity puts the Kingdom at dangerous risk, which could face the biggest threat to international order in decades. But the defense budget continues to shrink.
