RAF Announce New Lightning II Squadron

The Royal Air Force today announced that 617 Squadron, the famous ‘Dambusters’, will be the first operational squadron using Lightning II aircraft.

“The 617 Squadron is to disband on first April next year, as part of the planned drawdown of the Tornado GR4 force. It will then reform in 2016, taking delivery of the highly advanced Lightning II,” the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton said at a Royal United Services Institute conference on Air Power. 

 “The Lightning's state of the art stealth and precision target capabilities, together with the battle-proven Typhoon force, will complement each other’s capabilities and set the base-line for U.K. combat ISTAR² air power as a contemporary global force for the 2020s and beyond,” Air Chief Marshal Dalton added. “Lightning shall be operated jointly by the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm pilots, from land or from the Queen Elizabeth Class carrier. Overall, it’s a hugely flexible and futuristic joint capability.”

The U.K.’s Lightning II is the Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, which will give the supersonic multi-role stealth aircraft the ability to operate from land or sea. When it reforms in 2016, 617 Squadron will have both RAF and Royal Navy personnel. The next squadron will carry a Royal Navy squadron number but be similarly jointly manned.