RAF Coningsby welcomes £200m-plus investment in UK's Typhoon fleet
Royal Air Force Coningsby has welcomed news that more than £200 million is to be invested in specialist support for the nation’s Typhoon fighter jets.
The station is one of just two sites the combat aircraft call home, the other being RAF Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland. It also acts as the training station for Typhoon pilots.
On Monday (January 19), the Ministry of Defence (MOD) announced it was investing £205 million with British industry to ensure the RAF’s Typhoon fighter jet fleet is ‘ready to protect the UK and NATO allies’.
Welcoming the investment, RAF Coningsby station commander Group Captain Andy Hampshire said: “RAF Coningsby is proud to be at the heart of this continued investment in the Typhoon programme.
“The Typhoon is integral to RAF Coningsby, helping protect UK airspace around the clock and deploying on operations with our NATO allies.
“This investment ensures our personnel have the technical support they need to keep these world-class aircraft mission-ready for years to come.”
The £205 million investment comes in the form of a contract extension with the Aurora consortium.
It will deliver specialist technical and engineering support to the Typhoon fleet over five years via Aurora’s prime contractor QinetiQ.
This includes helping the MOD deliver the ‘European Common Radar System Mk2’ technology, which will allow the aircraft to simultaneously detect, identify and track multiple targets in the air and on the ground.
The deal, the MOD says, has secured 250 high-skilled jobs across the country.
Luke Pollard, minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, said: “Our Typhoon fighter fleet is the backbone of Britain’s air defence and keeps our nation secure at home and strong abroad, deploying across the world in support of our allies.
“Through our continued UK investment in the Typhoon programme and last year’s £8 billion Typhoon export deal with Türkiye, we are showing how defence is an engine for growth supporting prosperity across the country.”
Typhoons have recently supported NATO’s eastern flank through Operation Eastern Sentry and conducted airstrike operations against Daesh terrorists in the Middle East.
Yesterday (January 22), it was announced that Typhoons based at RAF Coningsby had been deployed to the Gulf for defensive purposes, noting regional tensions as part of the UK-Qatar Defence Assurance Agreement.
Lyndon Hoyle, Typhoon team leader at Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), part of the MOD, said: “This contract ensures our Typhoon fleet continues to receive the expert engineering support it needs to remain ready for missions.
“Working alongside DE&S and RAF colleagues, QinetiQ's team has delivered outstanding technical and safety expertise over many years, and this extension allows us to build on that proven partnership. Their work is essential to keeping these aircraft safe and capable, whether protecting UK airspace or supporting operations worldwide alongside our allies.”