Russ wrote:Hi, Sorry if it sounds silly or I have completely missed something but its been bugging me since this whole topic began.
In the first post the The RAF currently field 192 combat aircraft, made up of 87 Tornados; 53 Tranche 1 Typhoons; and 52 Tranche 2 and Tranche 3A Typhoons, deliveries of which are ongoing.
The Tranche 1/2/3 planes I assume are all single seat and the 2 seaters are not included in this ?
I cannot seem to make the numbers of planes mentioned on here or wiki add up. 105 Typhoons mentioned above. Also mentioned among these pages is that the average Squadron has 12 planes. My thinking based on this is when we get the 2 new sqns that will account for 84 planes leaving 21 still doing what ??? (or are these 21 the 2 seaters ?)
Secondly on Wiki it mentions 53 Tranche 1 / 67 Tranche 2 and 40 tranche 3 totaling 160. Now I know Wiki isn't always 100% accurate but its normally pretty close so suprised to see wiki claiming we have 55 more than the other source.
Any clarification for either questions would be greatful, Thanks
I make it...
Tranche 1 single seats = ZJ910-ZJ943 (34 aircraft)
Tranche 1 dual seats = ZJ800-ZJ815 (16 aircraft)
Total = 50 aircraft
Tranche 2 single seats = ZJ944-ZJ950, ZK300-ZK302, ZK304-ZK354 (61 aircraft)
Tranche 2 dual seats = ZK303, ZK379-ZK383 (6 aircraft)
Total = 67 aircraft
There are no Tranche 3's in service yet - they're all still stored at Warton AFAIK awaiting various people to make decisions
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Subtract the 2 dead ones, 3 permanently at Warton, and 4 Christmas trees and I think we're at 108 available for squadron use. 4 are down south talking penguin, so 104 in the UK. At any one time there are always 20-25% of the fleet undergoing upgrades, and/or major/minor servicing. So perhaps at best 80 available at any one time.
29 Sqn is larger than a normal squadron, so say 20 aircraft for it, and then 12 aircraft each for the 5 other front line sqns and you're at 80 aircraft (5x12 + 20). Oh forgot 41Sqn - they've got 4 too.
Releasing the 40 Tranche 3A aircraft to squadrons should be enough to form 2 more squadrons, allowing for one (or two) Christmas trees, a couple for 41Sqn and 20%-25% undergoing maintainace at any one time