Rayleigh and Wickford MP and member of the House of Commons Defence Committee (HCDC), Mark Francois, mingled with some of the RAF’s Top Gun fighter aces as part of a recent visit by the committee to RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.
Coningsby is one of Britain’s two principal air defence bases (the other being Lossiemouth in Northern Scotland) from which the Royal Air Force provide quick reaction alert (QRA) aircraft and pilots to intercept any unidentified aircraft encroaching upon UK airspace.
As part of the visit, Mark and fellow committee members were shown around the RAF’s interceptor aircraft, the Eurofighter Typhon, which is armed with both medium and short range missiles and a gun, as a deterrent to anybody seeking to fly where they should not. The Defence Committee have also recently conducted an enquiry into the new fifth generation F-35 fighter aircraft, which is due to equip the Royal Navy’s two Queen Elizabeth class carriers from 2020 onwards.
Speaking about his visit to RAF Coningsby, Mark said:
“As a former Armed Forces Minister, I was always very interested in the Royal Air Force and the air defence of the United Kingdom and so it was great to have a chance to visit RAF Coningsby and talk to the people who provide our air deterrent. RAF Pilots are among the best in the world and it’s important we continue to provide them with the right cutting edge equipment in order to keep our country safe”