The new Red Arrows should be made by a British company, even if it means they’re temporarily out of action, Lincolnshire’s council leader has said.
The aerial acrobatics team’s Hawk T1 jets are due to be retired in 2030, but the British company aiming to build a replacement has collapsed.
The Ministry of Defence says they’re currently looking for a new provider for the iconic team, which is based at RAF Waddington.
Lincolnshire County Council leader Sean Matthews said the government should wait for another local company to come forward rather than turn to foreign options.
“I do hope there’s a British company to take up building a replacement for the Red Arrows, and I’m sure there will be,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
“We need to demonstrate how brilliant they are in British-built planes. If it delays service, so be it. I’d much rather keep it local.
“To have them flying around the world in a foreign-made aircraft would be a bit of a shame.
“I want to keep them in Lincolnshire, practising over my office every morning.”
He said he also wanted to see the team back to their full strength, after news that they would fly with fewer jets to preserve the ageing aircraft.
The current fleet has been in use since the 1980s and is nearing the end of its life.
British company Aeralis, which was hoping to supply the new jets, collapsed in May, partly blaming a delay in the government’s defence investment plan.
The government insisted it was standing by the team during a House of Commons debate last week.
Minister for Defence Readiness Luke Pollard said: “We are committed to the Red Arrows, and there will be a competition to replace them, as well as the Hawk T1 and T2 training system, which provides the pilots of the future.
“That will be a competitive process, and it will be up to companies to provide a design, an option, and a training system to support it.
“That competition will launch in due course.”
All nine jets were used for the flypast over Buckingham Palace for the King’s Birthday Parade over the weekend.
However, they will be down to seven for the rest of the season, apart from an Independence Day event in the USA.