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Quick Reaction Alert

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Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) is state of readiness and modus operandi of air defence maintained at all hours of the day by NATO air forces. The United States usually refers to Quick Reaction Alert as 'Airspace Control Alert'.

Some non-NATO countries maintain a QRA,[1] either full-time or part-time.[2][3]

A QRA Typhoon from XI Sqn at RAF Coningsby escorts a Russian Tu-95 (ASCC designation "Bear") in August 2008

Operation

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QRA in the United Kingdom

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There are two QRA stations in the United Kingdom, one at RAF Coningsby in the east of England, and the other at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.

Pilots and engineers on QRA duty are at immediate readiness twenty-four hours a day. They are fully dressed in the Crew Ready Room, which are next to the hangars, a hardened aircraft shelter known informally as Q-sheds, which houses the interceptor aircraft, since 2007 the Eurofighter Typhoon. Pilots are on QRA duty around once or twice a month, each a twenty-four-hour shift.

Engineers are on QRA duty three or four times a year, each for a twenty-four-hour a day shift, for seven days at a time. Two Typhoon aircraft are maintained at readiness, along with a Voyager tanker at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. Before 2014 this task was carried out by a TriStar.

RRH Benbecula in June 2004

Civilian aircraft in the UK are monitored by NATS Holdings at:

RRH Staxton Wold in May 2009. Staxton Wold is possibly the oldest operational radar station in the world

Military radar in the UK is controlled by the UK Air Surveillance and Control System (ASACS),[4] looked after by ASACS Force Command.[5] It has Remote Radar Heads (RRH) at:

From 1997, the radars were the 1.1MW Plessey AR-320 (Type 93), and were replaced by the Lockheed Martin AN/FPS-117 system.

QRA in the United States

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The United States refers to Quick Reaction Alert as Airspace Control Alert.[6]

QRA response

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Air traffic across Europe is controlled by Eurocontrol in Brussels. Military aircraft from Russia can be tracked across Norway, and reported to the Norwegian Joint Headquarters near Bodø, or the Combined Air Operations Centre 2 (CAOC UE) in Uedem, North Rhine-Westphalia close to the border with the Netherlands. Combined Air Operations Centre Finderup (CAOC Finderup),[7] in Denmark, watches Russian aircraft and can alert the UK, and has RAF staff there.

Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-95 aircraft originate from the Olenya air base on the Kola Peninsula. Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack aircraft come from the Engels-2 base near Saratov. The Tu-95 aircraft are on 12-14 hour missions, and when tracked across Norway have been colloquially referred to with the codename of zombies.[citation needed]

A QRA response involves the fighter aircraft being scrambled to investigate an infringement of the NATO country's airspace or area of interest.

QRA response in the United Kingdom

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This may also be a civilian aircraft that poses a threat, if not sufficiently responding to air traffic control (ATC). Incidents of this nature in the UK are monitored by the Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) at RAF Boulmer, which builds a 3D Recognised Air Picture. The National Air and Space Operations Centre (NASOC) at RAF Air Command, RAF High Wycombe decides whether to send a QRA response. The Joint Force Air Component Headquarters is also at High Wycombe.

A QRA Tornado F3 of 111 Sqn at Leuchars intercepting a Russian Tupolev Tu-160 flying west of Stornoway in March 2010

QRA stations

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Austria

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Austria has only daylight QRA readiness. Austrian Air Force Air Surveillance Command is located at Salzburg. Fighter Squadron 1 & 2 with Eurofighter Typhoon are at Zeltweg Air Base.

Baltic States

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Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, though members of NATO, have no fighters capable of QRA intercepts. Other NATO nations provide periodic air defence at the NATO QRA standard as part of NATO Baltic Air Policing.[6]

Bulgaria

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Graf Ignatievo Air Base (3rd Fighter Air Base) of the BuAF has a single MiG-29 squadron, which carry two R-73 missiles. The Bulgarian CRC is at Sofia.

Croatia

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The Croatian Air Force's Air Force and Air Defence Command is located in Zagreb.[8] The 191. Fighter Squadron, flies MiG-21bisD/UMDs from Pleso (Zagreb Airport). The MiG-21 will be replaced with Dassault Rafale.

Czech Republic

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The 261st Control and Reporting Centre (CRC), is in Hlavenec. The Czech Air Force uses JAS-39C/D Gripen at Čáslav AFB.

Denmark

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The Royal Danish Air Force Command is headquartered at Karup Air Base. The Fighter Wing with the Eskadrille 727 and the Eskadrille 730, at Skrydstrup Air Base use F-16AM/BM Falcon, soon to be replaced with F-35A.

Finland

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The Finnish Air Operations Centre is at Jyväskylä–Tikkakoski Air Base. The Finnish Air Force Fighter Squadron 31 (Hävittäjälentolaivue 31, HävLLv 31) uses F-18C/D from Rovaniemi and Kuopio. In addition to the Air Force's main operating bases, QRA aircraft may by rotated between civilian airports and other temporary operating bases.[9]

Germany

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The municipality of Uedem houses NATO's Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) Uedem.[10]

Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 74 provides cover in the south, and Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 71 "Richthofen" in the north. The German Air Force uses Eurofighter Typhoons from Wittmund (QRA North) and Neuburg Air Base (QRA South), with alternate QRA bases in Nörvenich and Rostock-Laage Airport.[11]

Hungary

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The Hungarian Air Command and Control Centre is in Veszprém. The QRA base is at the Kecskemét Air Base. The Fighter Squadron Puma operates JAS-39C/D Gripen fighters. The Hungarian Gripens are responsible for the air police service over Slovenia.[12]

Iceland

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Iceland, though a member of NATO, has no standing armed forces. Other NATO nations provide periodic air defence at the NATO QRA standard as part of NATO Icelandic Air Policing.[13]

Italy

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Italian Air Force squadrons equipped with Typhoon and F-35 jets provide QRA coverage on a rotational basis. These squadrons are based at Grosseto Air Base in Tuscany (IX Gruppo of 4º Stormo), Gioia del Colle Air Base in Apulia (10° Gruppo and 12° Gruppo of 36º Stormo), Trapani Air Base in Sicily (18° Gruppo of 37° Stormo), and Istrana Air Base in Veneto (132° Gruppo of 51° Stormo), all of them operating Typhoons. More recently the F-35As based at Amendola Air Base in Apulia (13° Gruppo of 32° Stormo) have been given QRA tasks as well, and F-35s at Ghedi Air Base in Lombardy will be on QRA too.[14]

Netherlands

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The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) have F-35 aircraft at Volkel Air Base or Leeuwarden Air Base on high alert. They intercept once notified by the Air Operations Control Station Nieuw-Milligen, near Apeldoorn in Gelderland. The RNLAF alternates the responsibilities for QRA above Benelux with the Belgian Air Component every four months since 2016/2017.

Norway

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The Royal Norwegian Air Force Quick Reaction Alert force consists of two F-35s on high alert from Evenes Air Station.[15][16][17]

Romania

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The RoAF 71st Air Base (Baza 71 Aeriană) at Câmpia Turzii in central Romania and the RoAF 86th Air Base (Baza 86 Aeriană) at Borcea in south-east Romania are on QRA duty. Romania operates F-16 Fighting Falcons, which carry AIM-9X and AIM-120C missiles. The Romanian CRC is at Balotești in southern Romania.

Slovakia

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The Air Force Command of the Slovak Air Force is in Zvolen.[18] The 1st Tactical Squadron is waiting for delivery of F-16V at Sliač Air Base. Currently the Slovak airspace is guarded by German Air Force, Czech Air Force, Polish Air Force and Hungarian Air Force until the American F-16s are delivered.[19]

Spain

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The Spanish Air Force and Space Force establishes a number of multipurpose fighter units that take turns among themselves. On the one hand, there are four units dependent on the Air Combat Command (MACOM) that are responsible for protecting the airspace.

The QRAs are attended to by different predisposed units, which follow an action plan, in which several Air Force aircraft are prepared to respond to the alert within a maximum time of 15 minutes. A single base is not established as an operations center that is responsible for these activities, but there are several in Spanish territory that are "on duty" to respond to any requirement.

Switzerland

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The main base for the QRA of the Swiss Air Force is Payerne Air Base. The QRA also operates from Emmen Air Base and Meiringen Air Base for several weeks per year. Zurich Airport, Geneva Airport and Sion Airport serve as alternative locations. All QRA operations are guided by the Operations Center (EZ-LUV)/CRC at Dübendorf Air Base. The Swiss QRA are equipped with F/A-18C/D.[20][21]

Turkey

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Merzifon Air Base of the TuAF (Türk Hava Kuvvetleri), in northern Turkey, has two F-16 squadrons (built by TAI) with the 5th Air Wing (5 Ana Jet Üs). Bandırma Air Base has two F-16 squadrons of the 6th Air Wing. The Turkish CRC is at Ahlatlıbel near Ankara.

United Kingdom

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Currently there are two QRA RAF stations, of 1 Group.

History

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Quick Reaction Alert is the current iteration of scrambling, developed by RAF Fighter Command in the Battle of Britain.

Germany

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RAF Wildenrath provided air defence cover for Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG), which flew Phantoms with 92 Sqn and 19 Sqn until 1991.

Italy

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The first country to put the Typhoon onto QRA duty was Italy in December 2005, by IX Gruppo of 4º Stormo. 12° Gruppo of 36º Stormo followed in July 2007 and 10° Gruppo in July 2010. Typhoons replaced the F-16A/ADF of 37° Stormo at Trapani from May 2012. From March 2018 the F-35 of 32° Stormo based in Amendola, has implemented the QRA assets.

Spain

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111 Sqn put the first Typhoon on QRA duty in July 2008, followed by 142 Sqn of Ala 14, and later 141 Sqn.

United Kingdom

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A Lightning F.3 XP694 of 29 Sqn at RAF Wattisham in September 1972
A QRA pilot at RAF Leuchars in October 2010
RAF Typhoon of 3 Sqn intercepts a Russian Flanker Sukhoi Su-27 over the Baltic states in June 2014. The aircraft were at Šiauliai from March 2014 with Operation Azotize

In the 1950s and 1960s, training as a fighter controller in the UK was at MRS Bawdsey (RAF Bawdsey). The main central control was known as ADOC, which monitored the UK Air Defence Region (UK ADR). It was similar to the USA's and Canada's NORAD at Peterson Air Force Base. The ROTOR system was developed in the 1950s.[23]

Before computers arrived in the 1970s, the Russian aircraft were plotted on a map, mainly by WRAF personnel. 11 Group at RAF Bentley Priory from 1968 and RAF High Wycombe from 1972, looked after the UK's air defence until the 1990s. High Wycombe today has the European Air Group.

Every QRA alert required a Victor tanker from RAF Marham in Norfolk, with the codename Dragonfly. One fighter squadron would be on QRA for six month shifts. The Phantom had much better range than the Lightning, and had far-better look down radar, but the Lightning had better performance.

The RAF Phantom variant had Spey engines, which were not intentionally designed for the aircraft, and gave lower performance. It had an advanced jam-resistant inertial navigation system but the RAF Phantoms could not take off immediately as this inertial system had to align first. The Lightning left service in 1988 and the Phantom in 1992. When the Tornado F.3 arrived, the RAF QRA duty had an aircraft with complete night-vision capabilities and could connect to the Sentry aircraft.

In the 1960s, Southern Q was maintained by the Lightnings of 5 Sqn at RAF Binbrook and those of 29 Sqn and 111 Squadron at RAF Wattisham. Southern Q was rotated around the three RAF bases. RAF Leeming took over Southern Q from RAF Coningsby in 1988. 11 Sqn left RAF Leeming in October 2005.[24] In June 2007, 3 Sqn at RAF Coningsby took over Southern Q from the Tornados of 25 Sqn at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire. The Typhoons of 3 Sqn had their first scramble in August 2007 when they intercepted a Russian Bear. 3 Sqn took over all of Southern Q from April 2008.

In August 2007 the Russians had begun to launch long-distance patrols after a 15-year hiatus. Typhoons arrived at RAF Leuchars with 6 Sqn from September 2010, performing their first QRA scramble in January 2011. Typhoons joined 1 Sqn from September 2012. 6 Sqn moved to Lossiemouth in June 2014, with 1 Sqn moving in August 2014. QRA North was moved from RAF Leuchars to RAF Lossiemouth in September 2014. The first QRA sortie from Lossiemouth was on 19 September 2014 with 6 Sqn.

2012 Olympics

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To cover the security for the 2012 Summer Olympics, part of QRA South was briefly deployed from RAF Coningsby to operate from RAF Northolt.

Security incidents

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See also: 1999 South Dakota Learjet crash
  • On 25 September 1979 a light aircraft 'G-BGHR' left at 1pm from Stansted airport; it descended from 31,000ft to 12,000ft, in an exercise at 2.36pm; it flew in circles, after the pilot became ill from hypoxia, and the plane began to make four-mile-wide circular paths for six hours, moving south, and crashed in a French vineyard at Le Tremblay at 8.20pm, 12 miles south-east of Nantes; the aircraft was followed by an RAF Nimrod over the English Channel, and two French Air Force Mirage III and three Mirage F1 followed from 1810 to 2010; French pilots were given orders to shoot the plane down, if it was nearing a town;[25][26][27] on the aircraft were Tom Lampitt, aged 47, from Loom Lane, Radlett in Hertfordshire, a former pilot of Aer Lingus, and Lieutenant-Colonel Fausto Aguiar de Barros Valla, from Sacavém in Portugal, of the Portuguese Army;[28] Tom Lampitt, originally from New Penshaw, had flown in 43 Sqn at Leuchars in an aerobatics team with Peter Bairsto[29]
  • 1983 Scotland Learjet 25 crash, on Wednesday 18 May 1983, a pilotless Learjet 25 flew across the UK, crashing 260 miles off Stornoway at around 8.30pm; a Nimrod from RAF Kinloss searched for wreckage;[30] the West German aircraft had taken off from Vienna International Airport at 2.53pm, flying at around 40,000 ft (FL390) across Holland; radio contact had been lost near Fulda in West Germany at 3.49pm; the Learjet had been followed by Dutch QRA pilots, who had likewise seen no-one at the controls; the aircraft 'D-CDPD' was registered by Air Traffic GmbH of Munich; the pilot was believed to be Peter Blangman;[31][32] the Learjet was intercepted by an RAF Phantom over Loch Rannoch, with pilot 23 year old Flying Officer Mark Hanna, the son of Ray Hanna, and navigator 28 year old Flt Lt John Marr, of Portsmouth, from 111 Sqn at Leuchars; the RAF aircrew could see no-one in the cockpit, from a distance of 30 feet; the Learjet flew at around 450mph: the Phantom followed the aircraft to around 150 miles west of Kinloss, as there was no tanker aircraft; from there the Learjet was followed by another QRA RAF Phantom.[33][34][35][36]
  • 1989 Belgium MiG-23 crash, on 4 July 1989, where multiple QRA aircraft were scrambled
  • Helios Airways Flight 522, on 14 August 2005, intercepted by two Greek F-16 aircraft from Nea Anchialos National Airport
  • 2014 Olsberg mid-air collision, on 23 June 2014, a QRA exercise resulted in a mid-air collision between a Learjet 35 and a German Air Force aircraft from Nörvenich Air Base
  • 2018 Horizon Air Q400 incident on 10 August 2018 in the western US

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Schweizer Luftwaffe: Luftpolizeidienst jetzt rund um die Uhr". www.flugrevue.de. 30 December 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  2. ^ Fiona Lombardi; The Swiss Air Power: Wherefrom? Whereto?, vdf Hochschulverlag AG, 2007, Page 95.Swiss Air Power
  3. ^ Georg Mader; "Austria further reduces QRA capabilities", Air Platforms, Jane's 360, IHS, 21 August 2014.[1]
  4. ^ "ASACS". Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  5. ^ "ASACS Force Command". Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  6. ^ a b Magazine, Smithsonian. "Scramble - Scramble - Air and Space Magazine". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  7. ^ Finderup history PDF
  8. ^ "Orbats - Scramble". Scramblemagazine.nl. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  9. ^ "Monitoring and Securing of Finland's Territorial Integrity". Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  10. ^ "Belgium takes over command of NATO's Northern CAOC". NATO. 29 September 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  11. ^ "Sicherheit im Luftraum – Der Luftwaffe entgeht nichts!". Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  12. ^ "Hungarian Gripens police Slovenia". AIRheads↑FLY. Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  13. ^ "Canadian Department of National Defence". 20 February 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  14. ^ "F35: il 32° Stormo svolge il servizio di NATO QRA. aeronautica.difesa.it, 27 January 2022". Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  15. ^ "At 10:45 today, 2 Norwegian F-35s were scrambled for a #NATO Quick Reaction Alert mission from Evenes, #Norway. The F-35s identified 2 Russian military aircraft in int. airspace outside Norway: a SU-24 ("Fencer") and a MIG-31 ("Foxhound"). Photo: MiG-31 and NOR F-35". X. Norwegian Armed Forces. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  16. ^ Nordmo, Sigurd (20 August 2023). "Dette skjer når alarmen går: – Alle som er på vakt slipper det de har i hendene" (in Norwegian). ABC Nyheter. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  17. ^ "Royal Norwegian Air Force F-35 Takes Over Quick Reaction Alert Mission from F-16". MilitaryLeak. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  18. ^ "Scramble". Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  19. ^ Teraz.sk (12 June 2023). "Vzdušný priestor SR bude spolu s Poľskom a Českom chrániť aj Maďarsko". TERAZ.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  20. ^ Swiss Air Force 24h QRA (German )
  21. ^ "Swiss Air Force finally on call around the clock". SWI swissinfo.ch. 30 December 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  22. ^ "QRA North September 2014". Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  23. ^ Force V: The history of Britain's airborne deterrent, by Andrew Brookes. Jane's Publishing Co Ltd; First Edition 1 Jan. 1982, ISBN 0710602383, p.130.
  24. ^ Tornado F3 in Focus: A Navigator's Eye on Britain's Last Interceptor
  25. ^ Daily Record Friday 28 September 1979, page 2
  26. ^ 1979 Incident
  27. ^ AAIB Report
  28. ^ Liverpool Echo Thursday 27 September 1979, page 1
  29. ^ The Scotsman Friday 29 June 1956, page 10
  30. ^ May 1983 Learjet
  31. ^ Aberdeen Press and Journal Friday 20 May 1983, page 9
  32. ^ Times Friday May 20 1983, page 3
  33. ^ Liverpool Daily Post Friday 20 May 1983, page 5
  34. ^ Liverpool Echo Thursday 19 May 1983, page 1
  35. ^ Aberdeen Press and Journal Thursday 19 May 1983, page 1
  36. ^ 1983 Learjet
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