Typhoons Declared Ready for Ground Attack Role

The Royal Air Force's Typhoon aircraft marked another milestone in its capability today, Tuesday 1 July 2008, as it was declared operational in the air-to-ground role, becoming the Service's most advanced multi-role aircraft.>> Last year Typhoons began contributing to the air defence of the UK by complementing the Tornado F3 Force at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire - one of two UK Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) locations. Earlier this year Typhoon fully took over the role of southern QRA at Coningsby and the F3 QRA force now operates from RAF Leuchars.>> Following an exercise in the US, where XI Sqn Typhoons acquitted themselves well in a major Air-Land Forces exercise, the Typhoon is now officially declared multi-role and has considerably increased the RAF's war-fighting capability.>> Said Station Commander of RAF Coningsby, Gp Capt Stu Atha:>> "Today is another defining day for Typhoon, where potential has been turned into reality. It is a step increase in capability. What we have in Typhoon is a world-beating aircraft. It is agile, adaptable and capable, the three core elements of today's RAF.">> The multi-role capability means that RAF Typhoons can now carry out precision ground ttack or air fefence tasks as required before take-off, but before long will become "swing-role", which means they will be able to alternate between roles within the same mission once airborne.