The UK’s workhorse fighters have never been busier, and older ones lack the necessary ground attack capabilities
A Typhoon fighter taking off from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. Flying hours in the past year are up 20%.A Typhoon fighter taking off from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. Flying hours in the past year are up 20%.Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s call this week for “powerful English planes” was something of a surprise. The demand for western fast jets may have been predictable, but not the apparent request for Typhoons, the workhorse fighter of an increasingly stretched RAF.
For his part, Wallace wasted little time in sounding sceptical, pointing out that the Typhoon is made by the four-country Eurofighter consortium, and so it would require not just Britain to agree to its use but also its partners Italy, Spain and Germany. Ukraine has asked for 200 fighters to help it defend its skies – more than the number of fighters available to the RAF and closer in size to the French air force.
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