Royal Air Force bases to close as ministers cancel Nimrod order

[MrMetroid]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-11565829

RAF Kinloss is set to close after ministers cancelled orders for the new Nimrod as part of the UK government's defence review.



Nine of the MRA4 surveillance aircraft were due to be based in Moray.



RAF Kinloss station commander Group Captain James Johnston said there had been disbelief when the announcement was made.



The future of nearby RAF Lossiemouth, home to Tornado squadrons, remains uncertain.



However, there was better news for shipbuilding in Govan and Rosyth, with orders for two new aircraft carriers going ahead.



Prime Minister David Cameron said that as a result of the cancellation of the Nimrod replacement, RAF Kinloss would no longer be required.



It is understood that the Ministry of Defence could retain the site and may eventually use it as a barracks for soldiers returning from Germany.



Defence sources say the troops would not arrive until about 2015 at the earliest.



A final decision has not yet been taken about RAF Lossiemouth.



It has been feared that the Tornado aircraft currently based at RAF Lossiemouth could be transferred to RAF Marham.



Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: Cancelling the Nimrod aircraft of course has a knock-on effect on the bases in Moray, but it's not the end of the story.



We're not going to abandon the families and communities which are dependent for their jobs and their livelihoods on those bases.



Moray's two RAF bases contribute more than £150m to the local economy annually and support 5,700 jobs, according to a report in August by consultants hired by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).

I used to live there and that's where my dad worked when I lived there. Pretty much the majority of my friends had dad's that worked there and considering that it's probably has the most jobs in that area, that's going to be a lot of unemployed people >_<

 

[Jazzy]

Moray's two RAF bases contribute more than £150m to the local economy annually and support 5,700 jobs, according to a report in August by consultants hired by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).

Wow, this is going to be a huge loss to the local economy and those poor people who will be unemployed.

 

[beowulf]

the whole thing is half baked if you ask me but i can see some of the reasoning behind it



ark royal is getting old so i can see why thats getting decommissioned......with no ark royal theres no need for the Harrier force......and the harrier is getting old and out of date...but i think id have kept it on interim for the new carriers which isnt getting the crappy JSF for 9 years!...something is better than nothing



i can understand mothballing the challenger mbt's since they are meant for a european war against the soviet bloc and todays warfare is not really suited to that sort of vehicle (sept in iraq in both gulf wars

) but what are the tank regiments going to be retrained as if they are not going to have tanks?



i can understand withdrawing the nimrod since they are seriously old airframes but are they going to be replaced with something comparable like orion?...or are we not going to have that sort of capability?

 

[MrMetroid]

Moray's two RAF bases contribute more than £150m to the local economy annually and support 5,700 jobs, according to a report in August by consultants hired by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).

Wow, this is going to be a huge loss to the local economy and those poor people who will be unemployed.

Indeed. Like I said, the two bases have lots of people in them so it would be terrible. Something tells me there will be lots of unemployment around my area

 

[MrMetroid]

I should update that RAF Lossiemouth's problems. The Conservative Party have taken one of our important squadrons to a place called Norfolk. Well, That's just great! Taking a squadron from a non-Conservative ruled area to a Conservative ruled area