RAF Jet's

[Whitey]

The only fighter they show on tv here from the U.K. is the Tornado, do you have other fighter jets? If so what are they and what are they used for, like our A-10 is a tank killer, and F-18 is a fighter bomber.

[bird]

Yes we do have more than one jet in the RAF the Eurofighter typhoon which is comming this year http://www.eurofighter.com/Default.asp?Flash=False apart from that you will have to research yourself
i'm not into the RAF.

Bird

[zero megahertz]

We also have the Harrier Jumpjet.

[Tab]

Now the Tornado is a general all purpose plane that comes in many variants. There is the Fighter versions which is not all that nimble then there is a bomber version which is well equiped and can carry a good load
of weapons, The Tornado is coming to the end of it's useful life though.
There is also the Jaguar but that is mainly used for groud attack along with the Harrier.

[jamesthegren]

I've got a bit of a soft spot for the RAF.

Tornado GR4: Ground attack aircraft sort of similar to your F-16 or F-18. Probably the best low level fighter bomber in the world v. good.

Tornado F3 : The air superiority fighter varient designed to shoot down other aircraft with missiles similar to your F-15. Not as good as F-15, is being replaced with Eurofighter Typhoon.

Harrier GR7/9: Jump Jet used for low level bombing like F-18 or for ground support like your A-10. The Harrier is of course a British invention which the Americans bought of us. Like in the US will eventually be replaced by the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

Jaguar: Oldest fighter in service used for airdefence sort of like F-15, not that fantastic, think is also being replaced by Eurofighter.

Eurofighter Typhoon: Air superiority fighter similar to F-15 but better, until the F-22 arrives in the USAF this is the best fighter in the world. Just entering service replacing Tornado F3's and Jaguars.

These are the main fighters/bombers, there are of course loads of other bits and pieces, transport aircraft, reconnaissance, etc etc etc..

Try

http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/eq_facts.pdf

or

http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/acref.html

[Whitey]

As far as my opinion of the Tornado, I think it looks cool, and in the movies it seem's to appear to have that 007 type nostlgia, but they don't show it much on documenteries over here. That is why I was wondering. Over here it's all Mig's and out dated USAF fighters. Smidgit's of stealth which I think is a waste of money. We barely get info on other aircraft, not much on F-16's, but alot on the A-10 and the long gone F-4.

As for the harrier, I love that Jet, our Marines use them, I've seen them intergrated into our combined arms exercise's, awsome close support. They get as close as helicopter's but carry a fighter bomber payload.

Is the Jaguar your Navy carrier based Jet? Our tomcats are being replaced by hornets, hornets are great too. I thought the Jaguar was retired though.

Do your Marines have an Air Wing like our's?

Our Marines fly Harrier's and Hornets.

[rabby]

Our Navy jets are a version of the Harrier called the FA.2 although that is about finished its life very soon. The Jaguar is too be retired soon as she's an old bird but can still deliver the goods. Only in service with the RAF. The Marines don't have a specific air wing as such, but there is a Navy Air Wing that is permanently used for Marines Duties. This however is only a helicopter squadron and not jets such as Harrier. Your Marines though have more personel than our entire armed forces. The Royal Marines strength is between 5000 and 6000 men, including reserves. I think USMC is at something crazy like 180000.

[harry hackedoff]

Whitey, your Marines liked the Harrier so much they had their own version built. Harrier is unique in a dogfighting role, because it can "VIFF" I.E. Vector In Forward Flight. This means it is able to apply thrust at up to ninety-degrees to the direction of flight and "jump" out of the way of a missile. Neat, huh?
Tornado is seventies airframe, and not very good seventies airframe, at that. Jags are so old, no one can seriously consider them a true first line aircraft anymore. The much-vaunted "Euro-fighter" is a political compromise, and shows it`s design origins in the French Mirage. Delta wings are so sixties
The best thing we are likely to get is the JSF aircraft, particularly the thrust-vectored version that your Marines want. Or we could talk to the Russians( not joking )
Before Sea Harrier, the last fast jet to fly from RN carriers was Phantom, a truly capable Naval Aircraft
Aye,

[ExCrabMate]

The Jaguar may be quite old from an in-service date point but it is a very, very capable mud mover. It is not and never has been used for Air Defence, purely Strike (bucket of Instant Sunshine) and now Ground Attack/Recce.

It can also strafe which the Leapin'heap (Harrier) can't as British Waste of Space could not get the guns to work so deleted them.
Jags recently fitted with more powerful engines and also first RAF aircraft with pilot helmet-mounted sight and lots of other electronic goodies. Jag carries two Sidewinders for self-defence.

Tornado GRs are excellent but getting on a bit; the F.3 used for Air Defence was designed to splash Soviet bombers at long range, not to mix-it in close, so did not need the manouverability. Plans afoot to equip some with anti-radar missiles to clout Surface to Air Missile sites.

Nimrod drops torpedoes, mines and can be used to drop bombs, currently
being upgraded, by BWOS, so already about four years late

Typhoon will rock... alledgedly

[Tab]

Now do still have any of the old Canberras still around doing Photo recon?

[rabby]

I think there is, not sure though, last time I heard there were around 2/3 airframes still in service doing that, but that was a TV program last year somethime, don't know how accurate that is.

[ExCrabMate]

Canberras still around based Marham; recently on ops in the sandy places and Afghanistan

[rabby]

Here's a question, does the UK have any spy satellite to take nice quality photos of Saddam's baldy patch or do we have to rely on Mr YankSpy to do it for us? Always wondered what the point of keeping recce aircraft like that when a satellite would do, the enemy wouldn't know it was there, where they could see, hear and shoot down the like of a Canberra.

[Skiffle]

Tab,

There are only seven (just after a ground run accident) still in service. But they are soon to be decommisioned from service.

[BenChug]

I heard the Iraqis knew when the satalites would be coming over better than the CIA. And yet they panic when two U2 spy planes take off when they only were expecting 1.