U.K. Cuts Aircraft Fleets in Strategic Review

The BAE Systems Harrier GR9, Nimrod MRA4 and Lockheed Martin’s short take-off and vertical landing F-35B have been confirmed as the main casualties of the UK coalition government’s Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR).

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/10/19/348641/cameron-uk-to-swap-jsfs-to-carrier-variant-axe-harrier-and-nimrod.html





As part of its 8% cut in planned defense spending, the U.K. will retire a slew of aircraft early and also revamp its modernization plans.

The decisions laid out today under the long-awaited Strategic Defense and Security Review include a decision to cancel the BAE Systems MRA4 Nimrod program and retire the Raytheon R1 Sentinel ground-surveillance platform as soon as they are freed up from Afghanistan duties. That means the government is pulling the plug on more than £5 billion ($7.8 billion) in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance programs spent in the past decade.

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/awx/2010/10/19/awx_10_19_2010_p0-263355.xml