Calls have intensified for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to come clean over the future of RAF Leuchars after confirmation from Whitehall that the RAF’s oldest squadron is to reform at the axed Fife base.
No 1 Squadron, which was disbanded at RAF Cottesmore last year, will reform at Leuchars as a Typhoon squadron, joining No 6 Squadron, which already provides quick reaction alert cover for northern Britain.
There were already plans for three Typhoon squadrons at RAF Leuchars despite the announcement being made last summer that the Fife air base is to close and that Typhoons will start leaving next year to make way for the army in 2015.
The development was revealed by North East Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell, who said he had received a letter in the last few days from Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey.
Last week Sir Menzies Campbell suggested to Mr Hammond that if he wants value for money for the RAF in Scotland, he should keep RAF Leuchars as a Typhoon aircraft base. The MP says his argument has now been strengthened.
Sir Menzies told The Courier: ”No 1 Squadron is iconic in the history of the Royal Air Force. This announcement confirms that the build-up of the Typhoon force at RAF Leuchars continues without interruption.
”The suitability of the base to continue to provide air defence for the northern half of Great Britain is simply underlined by this build-up. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
As part of the Strategic Defence Review, it is planned that Leuchars will lose its Typhoon fighters to RAF Lossiemouth from next year before it eventually becomes home to thousands of troops returning home from their deployment in Germany.
It had been thought the findings of an MoD basing review would be made public by the middle of this month. But the MoD is not committed to making any public statement soon.
Speculation has also been growing about the future shape of the army as further cuts bite.
A freedom of information request by The Courier recently revealed no capital investment has been made to prepare for the army’s arrival at Leuchars and there has been no similar spending on preparing RAF Lossiemouth for the planned relocation of Leuchars’ fighters.
However, more than £2 million has been spent on mission-specific infrastructure for the Typhoons at Leuchars following a £40 million investment in the main runway.
Inevitably, that has led to renewed question marks over the base’s future.
Glenrothes and Central Fife Labour MP Lindsay Roy added his voice to renewed calls for the UK Government to remove any uncertainty as soon as possible.
He said: ”There are more questions than answers about Leuchars at the moment and the local community deserves to be told as soon as possible about what the future holds.”