Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether aircraft from the recently retired Tornado squadrons (a) have been put in storage, (b) destroyed and (c) used for cannibalisation.

As part of the phased reduction of the RAF’s Tornado GR4 fleet, aircraft allocated to disbanded squadrons are assessed against a range of criteria including flying hour life consumed, embodied capabilities and future maintenance requirements. Depending on the result of this assessment, aircraft are reallocated to Front Line squadrons, returned to BAE Systems for maintenance or upgrade, placed in storage for future use or selected for spares recovery. Components and equipment for which no further beneficial use can be identified are disposed of through normal channels.