Moray business leaders meet John Swinney over RAF plan

BBC – Moray’s business leaders are set to meet Finance Secretary John Swinney to discuss the local economy in the wake of the defence review. RAF Lossiemouth was saved from closure under defence cuts which were announced on Monday. RAF Kinloss will shut as an air base and be taken over by the Army. Members [...]

Fox visits surviving RAF air base

BBC – Defence Secretary Liam Fox has visited Lossiemouth in Moray, the day after it was confirmed it would become Scotland’s only surviving RAF base. The Typhoon jet fighter force which was to have been built up at RAF Leuchars in Fife will move to the Moray base. Leuchars and Kinloss, also in Moray, will [...]

Liam Fox visits surviving Scottish RAF air base

BBC – Defence Secretary Liam Fox is to visit Lossiemouth in Moray, the day after it was confirmed it would become Scotland’s only surviving RAF base. The Typhoon jet fighter force which was to have been built up at RAF Leuchars in Fife will move to the Moray base. Leuchars and Kinloss, also in Moray, [...]

RAF Lossiemouth saved in defence review

BBC – Leuchars in Fife has lost its fight to retain its RAF base, with Lossiemouth in Moray becoming Scotland’s only such site. RAF Leuchars will become an army base, with its Typhoons leaving for Lossiemouth in 2013 and the army starting to move in later. Campaigners had been battling to keep both bases open. [...]

Army to be cut by 19,000 soldiers as reserves increase

BBC – The government is expected to confirm later a sizeable cut in the regular Army, as part of a radical overhaul of the armed forces. Defence Secretary Liam Fox said the number of reservists would be increased to around 30,000, following a model used in the US and Australia. The Army would be reduced [...]

Leuchars loses fight to be RAF’s home in Scotland

Scotsman – RAF Leuchars has lost its battle with RAF Lossiemouth to remian as the last operating RAF base in Scotland, The Scotsman has been told. But the Fife base will be handed over the the army to house troops and significant numbers of troops will also be based at RAF Kinloss from 2014 as [...]

MP attacks ’senseless’ cuts to RAF bases

Scotsman – THE SNP has accused the UK government of preparing to make “massive and disproportionate” cuts to the RAF in Scotland, claiming that defence communities have been “treated appallingly”?. A defence review has already spelled the end for RAF Kinloss, on the Moray Firth, with the cancellation of the Nimrod contract, while the fates [...]

Angry RAF campaigners hit out over delay

Northern Scot – ANGRY campaigners have hit out at yet another delay to a final decision on the future of RAF Lossiemouth. An announcement had been anticipated this week, but it could now be Monday before the UK Government reveals the final basing structure. And there is still a chance that a decision could be [...]

RAF bases decision ‘within days’

BBC – An announcement on the future of Scottish RAF bases could come soon, House of Commons leader Sir George Young has hinted. News on the future of RAF Lossiemouth in Moray and RAF Leuchars in Fife is being anxiously awaited in both areas. Sir George Young said Defence Secretary Liam Fox was hoping to [...]

Trainspotting star joins last-ditch Lossiemouth appeal

STV – Trainspotting star Kevin McKidd has appealed to David Cameron not to close the threatened base at RAF Lossiemouth. The Elgin-born actor said closing the base would be “a disaster” and outlined his fears about “the massive economic and social damage a double RAF base closure will mean to Moray and the north of [...]

Last-ditch RAF bases appeal made to Liam Fox

BBC – A last-ditch appeal to abandon feared airbase closures in Scotland has been made to Defence Secretary Liam Fox. News of the future of RAF Lossiemouth in Moray and RAF Leuchars in Fife could be released next week. Campaigners have been trying to save them. SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson said both should remain. [...]

Towns will have long wait after RAF closures

Scotsman – COMMUNITIES hit by the closure of an RAF base will have to wait at least ten months before the army moves in as a replacement, a senior minister has admitted. The news will come as a blow to communities in Moray where RAF Kinloss has already been shut. Lossiemouth could follow, and there [...]

RAF bases decision ‘taken’

Scotsman – THE wait for communities in Moray and Fife over the future of RAF bases in Scotland is expected to come to an end next week after Defence Secretary Liam Fox said that he has made the “key decisions” on the base review. One of the main decisions is over whether to end the [...]

RAF Tornado in ‘fortuitous’ escape off Lossiemouth

BBC – An RAF Tornado almost collided with two aircraft off Lossiemouth, according to an investigation report. The GR4 fighter aircraft was coming in to land at the Moray base in cloud when one of the Swedish aircraft passed across its nose about 200m ahead. A second aircraft was then spotted by the Tornado crew [...]

Blow for RAF Lossiemouth in battle for survival?

Scotsman – LEUCHARS could be saved as an RAF base after a late change of heart in the Ministry of Defence’s review of its base closures. The Scotsman has learned that the base in north-east Fife has moved ahead of Lossiemouth in Moray in the battle for survival, as Defence Secretary Liam Fox prepares to [...]

RAF Tornados notch up 1 million hours

Mirror.co.uk – SCREAMING towards the ground at 450mph in a 20-ton flying war machine, an RAF top gun calmly chats about his job. “We’ll pull up so we can climb with speed to get to the top of the loop, then we’ll gradually ease off at the top. It teaches pilots confidence in the [...]

Enterprise Minister urges MoD to avoid further cuts

STV – There is an overwhelming defence, social and economic case for retaining Scotland’s RAF bases, Enterprise Minister Fergus Ewing said during a meeting with community and business representatives in Moray. Mr Ewing met board members of the Moray Economic Partnership (MEP) and business and community leaders, as part of the Government’s ongoing support for [...]

Moray to be in sharp focus on Armed Forces Day

STV Lossiemouth – Moray will once again be in sharp focus throughout the UK next week for the Armed Forces Day celebrations. Veterans and serving personnel as well as members of the public are being urged to turn out in force in support of the celebrations, which will take place in Lossiemouth. There is to [...]

RAF Leuchars campaigners set out ‘overwhelming’ case for base

STV – Campaigners battling to save RAF Leuchars in Fife have produced a map of terrorist targets they claim will be put at risk by the base’s closure. The map has been released just as a long-running defence spending review reachs its final stage. A Ministry of Defence sub-committee, led by the Defence Secretary Dr [...]

The base line: What next for Scottish defence?

Scotland on Sunday – NEXT month the Defence Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, is to due to announce the results of his department’s reconfiguration of bases and stationing of personnel. For communities in Scotland, particularly in Fife, Moray and around Edinburgh, it will bring either relief or crushing disappointment as bases are either shut or saved [...]

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