Base Closure Annoucement

Anyone heard any more speculation/information on when it's rumoured to be? It seemed to be the generally held belief that it would be 'after the Scottish elections', but I haven't seen anything that mentions a specific date.

Is it now a straight fight between Lossie and Leuchars, and possibly one other?

 

[Zeebad]

Yes there is , when Leuchars boltholed to Lossie few years back they operated Q as there is a few HAS that have the relevant license. If they were that bothered about Mullah and his airliners crashing into Scotland or attacking from the North im sure the Q would have went to Leeming if that was high on there concern.
Obviousley not ....

No, there is not, I did Q there and it has no infrastructure, was a real pain tripping over HPS doorways. Supporting it during normal work was also a pain during that bolthole due to where we had been squeezed into.

 

[Pistonbroke]

AS for a normal transition from RAF to Army - no such thing. We were promised here at St. Athan this would all go like clockwork and Churchill Lines will arrive without a wimper. We have had no end of fight, drunken behavior (more than usual) and army guys being picked up by the civie plods and returned to barracks, only to come out the next week and do the same! Forget it Cupar, St Andrews etc you are in for a shock.

 

[Zeebad]

Which is obviously cheaper than closing Lossie and leaving Leuchars open.

You are Qless. SDSR has been driven by money. Why spend from a very tight budget to get the same product that is less capable?

 

[True Blue Jack]

No, there is not, I did Q there and it has no infrastructure, was a real pain tripping over HPS doorways. Supporting it during normal work was also a pain during that bolthole due to where we had been squeezed into.

Zee, Q isn't moving to Lossie tomorrow. Project Future Lossie will sort all the problems out well in advance...no, even I can't keep a straight face while typing that!

The point is, that Leuchars will close its doors to the RAF, Typhoon and QRA(N) will move to Lossie, the move will be far from perfect but one way or another it will be made to work. And I doubt any mad mullah will suddenly feel it necessary to drive a 747 into Carlisle because of a perceived gap in the nationwide QRA coverage.

 

[Zeebad]

leuchars as an RAF station will be no more, it's that simple accept it fcuking deal with it and get on with it!!

no amount of moaning is going to stop it so why not move on, look to the future and put the handbags away and stop fcuking crying about it!

Whats your malfunction? You like your exclamations or do you feel the need to be heard? I am not whinging and the posts I have read from concerned people don't seem to be whinging either. I have only stated my concerns about the degradation of UK Air Defense as well as responded to some posts with a hint of spite. For me the future is already sorted.

 

[Zeebad]

Zee, Q isn't moving to Lossie tomorrow. Project Future Lossie will sort all the problems out well in advance...no, even I can't keep a straight face while typing that!

The point is, that Leuchars will close its doors to the RAF, Typhoon and QRA(N) will move to Lossie, the move will be far from perfect but one way or another it will be made to work. And I doubt any mad mullah will suddenly feel it necessary to drive a 747 into Carlisle because of a perceived gap in the nationwide QRA coverage.

Fair point, however money is the driver and that has been weighed against the risk assessment, I just dont agree with the QRA move due to locat and logs. Most of Leuchars needs levelled anyway, this will probably happen when the army get there.

 

[grumpyoldb]

Most of Leuchars needs levelled anyway, this will probably happen when the army get there.

Gravel extraction springs to mind................. ala Oakington.

 

[Kipper Fleet Bloke]

And I doubt any mad mullah will suddenly feel it necessary to drive a 747 into Carlisle because of a perceived gap in the nationwide QRA coverage.

Arrrrrr That's a shame - just what Carlisle needs to put it on the map.
However one into Mr smug git Salmond's new Scottish Parliament would do wonders in putting Edinburgh back into the middle ages.

Finished stirring and now waiting for the 'sweaties' to pile on!

 

[HeWitch]

As far as the Q move, it's obviously a move to defend the new highest earning Scottish industry. Now that the oil is in decline we must do all we can to defend the whisky trade from radicals!

I'm wondering what parts of the army will go where; will the AAC be shifted into Leuchars/Kinloss for example? I'm sure St Andrews would sound great with Apaches training overhead...
Admittidly, it's a wee bit far north for them to be permanently stationed but some transport must be included.

We're also waiting for word on the future of the runways. If they do hold onto ISK as a runway ATC, fire, met and others will need to have some people skilled at being bored.

 

[Cureton]

Arrrrrr That's a shame - just what Carlisle needs to put it on the map.
However one into Mr smug git Salmond's new Scottish Parliament would do wonders in putting Edinburgh back into the middle ages.

Finished stirring and now waiting for the 'sweaties' to pile on!

I would suspect that if one flew into Mr Salmonds Scotish parliament building the pilot would be awarded a Knighthood.

 

[roslin]

Taxpayers Money Done the Toilet

Taxpayers Money Done the Toilet

Why is everyone at Alec ye 1 minster up here ? We are waiting to see how much transferring the Typhoons up North is going to cost the poor taxpayers this time. Up until two weeks ago the where with all was getting poured into Leuchars. It looks like quite a few millions have got flushed down the head. Still it is not the political types own money. I wonder how the black hole of a money pit (HM Treasury) will justify this so that some generals think the are going to get cheap Golf in the auld grey town by the Northern sea

 

[SirSaltyHelmet]

Why is everyone at Alec ye 1 minster up here ? We are waiting to see how much transferring the Typhoons up North is going to cost the poor taxpayers this time. Up until two weeks ago the where with all was getting poured into Leuchars. It looks like quite a few millions have got flushed down the head. Still it is not the political types own money. I wonder how the black hole of a money pit (HM Treasury) will justify this so that some generals think the are going to get cheap Golf in the auld grey town by the Northern sea

Again, it is obviously cheaper to send them to and operate from Lossie.

Had to laugh at "sending them up North" - from that great southern airfield.

 

[SepticCalling]

Fair point, however money is the driver and that has been weighed against the risk assessment, I just dont agree with the QRA move due to locat and logs. Most of Leuchars needs levelled anyway, this will probably happen when the army get there.

Your argument would pre suppose that the risk assessment swung in the favour of Leuchars! I am sure that the draw down team at Abbeywood and Main Building took it all into account!

Mind you, I think its a poor show that the decision was taken back in October to close Leuchars and they took 9 months to make it official.... it was one of the worst kept secrets at at that place of many minds without a single thought.

 

[roslin]

Lossie

Lossie

From where I am Lossiemouth is way up North .It is far easier to have a night out in London than crawl up the A9 . As for the Leuchars decision the Scotsman government source said that until two weekends back NO cabinet decision had been made Ming Campbell our local Westminster MP is very likely to make a few statements. London is just over six hours by train from Leuchars to Kings Cross.
It looks like the airfield is to stay in use. I suppose for C130J and C17 from Brize Norton coming to pick up troops . As to the ACC arriving it may be so.

 

[stacker1195]

I had a strange sense of deja vu on my first day at work at Leuchars. Especially seeing as I'd just been posted in from Cott/ Witt.

Something to do with gathering in front of a bigwig in a hangar and making out a couple of words amongst his inaudible impression of a train station announcer. To be followed by inane questions (probably asked by suck up Junior Officers 'Pick me, pick me!!') with the groans getting louder as more got asked.

More uncertainty for my wife and kids to deal with, but as has been said time and again that's life in a blue suit.

 

[Cureton]

Why is everyone at Alec ye 1 minster up here ?

Probably because of his hypocritical splurge, a couple of years ago his words said that he didnt want the RAF in Scotland, his 2009 manifesto was widely acknowledged by financial experts as having no funds to support an Air Force, so his recent "we cant lose another Scotish base" statements are a bit hard to swallow. But he isnt the only SNP politician that is confusing in what he says, Mr Robertson from Moray was nationally qouted after the initial SDSR announcement, saying that he had seen a piece of paper that clearly indicated that all the Tornado GR4 aircraft will move to Marham, and he swallowed that, made me wonder how many times it had to be left in front of him until he took the bait.

Generally throughout this base decision period they have been so guilty of using typical politician ways of bonding with their constituents by scare mongering, untrue and very misleading statements in all the media.

They will of course now bore everyone braindead in Moray with the "look what we have done for you" comments, arnt Nationalist parties great ?

 

[SepticCalling]

From where I am Lossiemouth is way up North .It is far easier to have a night out in London than crawl up the A9 . As for the Leuchars decision the Scotsman government source said that until two weekends back NO cabinet decision had been made Ming Campbell our local Westminster MP is very likely to make a few statements. London is just over six hours by train from Leuchars to Kings Cross.
It looks like the airfield is to stay in use. I suppose for C130J and C17 from Brize Norton coming to pick up troops . As to the ACC arriving it may be so.

Seems you are a wee bit removed from the MOD, I can assure you that the decsion to close Leuchars was made 9 months ago, everyone at Abbeywoood knew, we even dined it out at Christmas. SNP rhetoric did help the cause though.

 

[ukmil]

Seems you are a wee bit removed from the MOD, I can assure you that the decsion to close Leuchars was made 9 months ago, everyone at Abbeywoood knew, we even dined it out at Christmas. SNP rhetoric did help the cause though.

mm, maybee you can brief ACM Sir Simon Bryant-CINC Air Cmd on that then, because he clearly told everyone at Leuchars on the day of the announcement, that MPs only got the for's and againt's for each camp in December. He then promised every troop infront of him, that the decision was made by the Mp's alone, with no MOD input, and was ONLY made in the last few weeks.

so, you are calling the CinC a liar, cool!DT_Xtremez_06:

 

[SepticCalling]

mm, maybee you can brief ACM Sir Simon Bryant-CINC Air Cmd on that then, because he clearly told everyone at Leuchars on the day of the announcement, that MPs only got the for's and againt's for each camp in December. He then promised every troop infront of him, that the decision was made by the Mp's alone, with no MOD input, and was ONLY made in the last few weeks.

so, you are calling the CinC a liar, cool!DT_Xtremez_06:

Sorry to be a pooper old son, the MOD made the decsion last October, it was common knowledge within main Building and Abbeywood, go back to page one of this thread. Yes, your ACM is correct, but it was made public in the press that the data was presented to the ministers in December and also what was going and what was staying, from then on it was public knowledge.

There was never any doubt that the place would close and your ACM was obviously being a little bit lean with the truth, it is called "spin". The final decision was obviously that of the Ministers but when faced with the counsel from the MOD that they wanted it closed...there was no way it would stay open in order to satisfy local jingoism. Two bases in Scotland were to close and the one that made the best asset for the whole country, won the day!

Gosh, its like saying two years ago that no one expected MR4 to be cancelled because the ACM said it was a jolly good platform, given that it had the same inherent faults as the MR2..its future was assured.

I accept it is an emotive issue and I am sorry that it grieves you and your chums, but that is what service life is. Isnt there an old saying about jokes and joining?

 

[True Blue Jack]

Sorry to be a pooper old son, the MOD made the decsion last October, it was common knowledge within main Building and Abbeywood, go back to page one of this thread.
There was never any doubt that the place would close and your ACM was obviously being a little bit lean with the truth! Why does it grieve you that the place has closed? Are you by any chance a son of Alba?
That is like saying MPs made the decison to scrap GR9..they did not..

If CINC says the decision was made only recently then that is the truth of the matter; that man does not know how to lie.

However, the closure of Leuchars was always the most likely result of the basing review despite the money spent on Typhoon support because it would never have made any sense (politically) to close Kinloss & Lossie. I suggest your "dining out" was due to educated guesswork, no more, no less.