http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #354 SEPTEMBER 2017 // 9
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for breaking news stories. E-mail the news team
at [email protected]Typhoon
intercepts
Black Sea
Backfi res
AN RAF Typhoon FGR
has intercepted two
Russian Aerospace
F orces Tu -2 2M -
bombers over the
western Black Sea.
The Typhoon was
scrambled on July 25.
The Backfires were
heading south near
NATO airspace over
the Black Sea. The
bombers were tracked
as they departed south
but the jets did not
come within visual
range of each other.
Typhoons from No 3
(Fighter) Squadron are
currently deployed at
Mihail Kogălniceanu,
Romania, as part of
the NATO Enhanced Air
Policing (eAP) mission
(see also Black Sea
defenders, p68-70).Service life
extension
for Hercules
THE UK Ministry of
Defence (MOD) has
announced a service
life extension for the
RAF’s C-130J Hercules
fleet. The programme
will include a structural
upgrade and will
keep the airlifters in
service until 2035.
The £110m contract
announced on July
14 includes replacing
the centre wingboxes
on its 14 Hercules C
(C-130J-30) aircraft.
Marshall Aerospace
and Defence Group will
undertake the work at
Cambridge Airport.
According to Marshall:
“The [replacement]
units provide durability
enhancements and
allow sustained centre-
wing service life that
is two to three times
longer than the original
centre wingboxes.”Maritime patrol squadrons named
Above: RAF personnel currently in the Seedcorn programme were at RAF Lossiemouth on July
17 for the presentation of the No 120 Squadron patch to the new commanding offi cer, Wg Cdr
James Hanson (centre). Crown Copyright
UK DEFENCE Secretary Sir
Michael Fallon announced
the identities of the RAF’s
two frontline Boeing P-8A
Poseidon units during
an address at the Air
Power Conference 2017 in
London on July 13. These
will be Nos 120 and 201
Squadrons, both based
at RAF Lossiemouth,
Scotland. The first is dueto stand up in April 2018
under the command of
Wg Cdr James Hanson.
The first of nine P-8s
will arrive in the UK in- No 201 Squadron
will form in 2021.
In related news, the
MOD is examining the
Poseidon as a candidate
to replace the Sentinel
R1 in the overland wide-
area surveillance role.
The RAF Sentinel fleet
of No V(AC) Squadron is
planned for retirement
in 2021. Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State
for Defence Harriet
Baldwin revealed on
July 11 that the P-
is one of the options
currently being studied
for the requirement.