This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-34898079
The article has changed 12 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| New P8 maritime patrol aircraft to be based at RAF Lossiemouth | New P8 maritime patrol aircraft to be based at RAF Lossiemouth |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A new fleet of maritime patrol aircraft will be based at RAF Lossiemouth, the BBC has learned. | A new fleet of maritime patrol aircraft will be based at RAF Lossiemouth, the BBC has learned. |
| Prime Minister David Cameron will confirm plans to buy nine new Boeing P8 aircraft as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review. | Prime Minister David Cameron will confirm plans to buy nine new Boeing P8 aircraft as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review. |
| The planes will fill a gap left by the much-criticised decision in the last review, in 2010, to scrap a new generation of Nimrod aircraft. | The planes will fill a gap left by the much-criticised decision in the last review, in 2010, to scrap a new generation of Nimrod aircraft. |
| The timing of when they will come into service is not year clear. | |
| The BBC's defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said the Moray base had been chosen in preference to another RAF base in Lincolnshire. | The BBC's defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said the Moray base had been chosen in preference to another RAF base in Lincolnshire. |
| Speaking on the Good Morning Scotland programme, he said: "There was a debate as to whether the new maritime patrol aircraft should be based in Lincolnshire, at RAF Waddington, where a lot of the surveillance aircraft the RAF has are based, or in Scotland - and the decision has been taken that they will be based in Lossiemouth." | Speaking on the Good Morning Scotland programme, he said: "There was a debate as to whether the new maritime patrol aircraft should be based in Lincolnshire, at RAF Waddington, where a lot of the surveillance aircraft the RAF has are based, or in Scotland - and the decision has been taken that they will be based in Lossiemouth." |
| The UK's fleet of Nimrod surveillance aircraft were formerly based at RAF Kinloss in Moray. | |
| An upgraded version of the Nimrod, the MRA4, had been due to enter service in 2012 but the plans were cancelled in the 2010 defence review. | |
| The planes, costing a total of £4bn, were later broken up and scrapped despite warnings from former defence chiefs that it would leave a hole in Britain's defence capability. | |
| The cancellation of the Nimrod led to the closure of RAF Kinloss, although the site is still used by the MoD as an Army base. | |
| The Ministry of Defence is currently having to rely on French and Canadian aircraft during a search after a reported sighting of a Russian submarine off the Scottish coast. |