RAF Eurofighter Typhoon squadrons test ability to fight from dispersed bases

The Royal Air Force has completed a week-long exercise that tested its ability to maintain combat air operations from dispersed locations when its main operating bases are disrupted.

Exercise Agile Owl involved RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland and the Typhoon Air Wing. Aircraft and support personnel were deployed to alternative locations, including Kinloss Barracks.

The exercise tested the RAF’s response to operational threats, sustaining aircraft and personnel away from their home stations and continuing to generate combat air power during disruption.

Both Coningsby and Lossiemouth underwent realistic operational scenarios to assess their resilience and ability to maintain operations.

Kinloss Barracks, a former RAF airfield now used by the Army, provided an additional location for dispersed operations.

“Exercise Agile Owl has provided an excellent opportunity to test our ability and capacity to operate away from the home base. The current operational climate requires us to react and deploy at short notice, and it is essential that we demonstrate our ability to support both our aircraft and, more importantly, our people,” said Group Captain Paul Hanson, Typhoon Air Wing Commander.

Testing RAF operational resilience

Dispersing combat aircraft reduces their concentration at established airbases, making it more difficult for an adversary to target aircraft, infrastructure and supporting personnel in a single attack.

The RAF said lessons from the war in Ukraine and recent tensions in the Middle East had reinforced the importance of operating from unfamiliar or challenging environments.

The exercise also tested the coordination needed to sustain deployed aircraft while maintaining operations at their parent stations.

“The exercise gave us the opportunity to explore our capacity to react to threat scenarios while simultaneously supporting both operations at RAF Coningsby and deployed locations,” said Group Captain Andy Hampshire, Station Commander RAF Coningsby. 

He added that lessons identified during the exercise would strengthen procedures and improve resilience, supporting Coningsby’s and Lossiemouth’s ability to meet UK and NATO defence commitments.

Both stations provide Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) capabilities to protect UK airspace. RAF Lossiemouth also operates the Poseidon MRA1 maritime patrol aircraft.

Exercise Agile Owl involved multiple aircraft types, operational units, airbase personnel and civilian agencies.

The RAF said the exercise had identified opportunities to refine operational plans and future training, including procedures for deploying aircraft, supporting personnel at alternative locations and returning units to their main bases.

“This exercise has demonstrated our ability to successfully disperse our aircraft, enable dispersed locations, sustain our aircraft and personnel whilst maintaining operations, and finally recover in good order back to our home bases,” said Wing Commander Sharon, Exercise Coordinator at RAF Lossiemouth. “It has also provided a great learning environment to allow us to refine our plans and shape our training, so that we are fully prepared for whatever the future may hold.”