the annual cost to maintain the aircraft was \u00a327.7m<\/a>. <\/p>\nIn a statement on Friday, a RAF spokesperson said the iconic team was known globally for “world-class precision, speed, and teamwork”.<\/p>\n
They added that pilots “will operate with seven aircraft, continuing to deliver high quality engaging displays at airshows and events across the UK, mainland Europe and further afield”.<\/p>\n
There are at least 40 displays planned for this year.<\/p>\n
The Red Arrows have previously flown with seven aircraft, including in 2012 and 2022. <\/p>\n
A British aerospace company that had been developing a replacement for the Hawk T1s went into administration last week.<\/p>\n
Aeralis had pitched itself as the only British firm able to supply a new advanced jet trainer that would be designed and built in the UK.<\/p>\n
Administrators said the company had faced “a sustained period of pressure” on its cashflow after “continued delays to the UK Defence Investment Plan, combined with geopolitical factors affecting sources of funding”.<\/p>\n
In response, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “The fast jet trainer programme is ongoing and no final procurement decisions have been made.”<\/p>\n
Last year, the UK government’s Strategic Defence Review recommended that the Hawk T1s should be replaced by a “cost-effective, advanced trainer jet”.<\/p>\n
The review suggests that MoD procurement should prioritise British businesses to benefit the UK economy.<\/p>\n
Aircraft offered by BAE Systems, Leonardo and several other companies are also considered to be contenders to replace the Hawk T1s but no decisions have been made.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Red Arrows are used to display the force’s military capabilities and help with recruitment. They do not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-598841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}