Speculation that the RAF will return to Leuchars continues to grow after it emerged that fighter jets could once again be stationed in Fife.
The Courier understands that several Typhoon aircraft, mothballed to cut costs in 2011, could be brought out of storage and put back into service at the former air base as part of the Government’s forthcoming defence review.
It follows revelations this week that a new fleet of anti-submarine aircraft could be placed in Fife following threats to Britain’s territorial waters from Russia.
Having been home to similar jets until last year and with space limitations at the RAF’s bases elsewhere in the country, there is a belief in military circles that Leuchars could provide an ideal home to the reinstated Typhoons.
Local MP Stephen Gethins said: “The decision to close the RAF base at Leuchars and mothball the Typhoons was obviously a huge mistake by the Liberal Democrat Conservative coalition.
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“Leuchars is one of the best assets that the military has including excellent facilities for any aircraft capability.
“The RAF and the local community have a relationship stretching back for a century and the return of the air force to the base would make a lot of sense.”
Earlier this week The Courier revealed that the Ministry of Defence could place Maritime Patrol Aircraft at the former RAF base.
It is believed that the Government is looking to purchase several Boeing P-8 “Poseidon” aircraft as part of its forthcoming Strategic Defence and Security Review.
The planes, which specialise in anti-submarine warfare, would patrol Britain’s territorial waters against the threat posed by Russian submarines, plugging the gap in the military’s coastal defence capability following the scrapping of the air force’s fleet of Nimrod aircraft in 2011.
Though having been handed over to the army and renamed Leuchars Station, the base was home to two squadrons of Typhoons until last year, when the Quick Reaction Alert force for the north of the UK was relocated to RAF Lossiemouth.
The Ministry of Defence said it was unable to give details of the forthcoming Strategic Defence and Security Review when The Courier approached it for comment yesterday.