PM RESOLUTE ON FUTURE OF RED ARROWS
David Cameron has insisted the Red Arrows will continue flying well into the future following warnings that the RAF display team could be grounded unless its ageing planes are replaced.
The Prime Minister said the Hawk T1 jets flown by the pilots were not due to go out of service until 2020 and said "we must always have a Red Arrows team".
Mr Cameron said the aerobatic display team was a "key part of our national identity" and "make us proud to be British".
The team's lead pilot, Squadron Leader Jim Turner, recently warned that the jets flown by his team would need replacing in 2018.
The Red Arrows are based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and Mr Cameron told the team's local BBC radio station that they would continue flying.
He said: "I yield to no-one in my admiration for the Red Arrows. I was at the Farnborough Air Show on Monday and the world's media and the world's aerospace customers were there, and the Red Arrows once again put on an absolutely brilliant display.
"In terms of the planes, my understanding is that they are already capable out to 2020, so that is a good six years from now.
"You are quite right we need to start thinking about the future but there is no danger: Britain will always have a great display team. It's one of the things that makes us proud to be British."
He told BBC Radio Lincolnshire it was "total nonsense" to claim they were under threat.
He said: "They will be flying as long as I'm Prime Minister and, in my view, they'll be flying long after, or a display team will be flying long after, I've stopped being Prime Minister.
"We've got plenty of time to think of the future, it may be possible to extend the life of these planes and there's plenty of other things we can do for the future.
"There's absolutely no danger of there not being a Red Arrows team in Britain."
Mr Cameron indicated a decision on the aircraft flown by the team could be included in next year's strategic defence review.
He said: "The out-of-service date is currently 2020 for the Hawk T1, so that gives us a good six years and I think there's plenty of time to think about whether that can be extended at all, safely, and if not what new Red Arrows team should be put in place.
"We have a strategic defence review in 2015, next year, so that gives us plenty of time to get this right."
Mr Cameron added: "It's a really key part of our national identity, it inspires young people into careers in aerospace and into the RAF, and we must always have a Red Arrows team."
