THE RAF is drawing up plans to convert a fleet of 25-year-old patrol planes into Britain’s first long-range heavy bomber force since the Falklands war.

The plan is being seen as Britain’s answer to America’s B-52 bomber, still in regular use more than 50 years after it first flew.

The upgraded Nimrod reconnaissance planes, developed from 1950s Comet airliners, would be able to fly non-stop from Britain to hit targets in countries such as Iraq with cruise missiles or precision-guided bombs.

The RAF’s current bombers, mainly Tornados, have a far shorter range and, as in the Iraq war in 2003, depend on the use of airbases in nearby countries for attacking an enemy.

Britain has not had the capability to launch long-range airstrikes since a Vulcan bomber attacked Port Stanley airfield during the Falklands conflict in 1982. The Vulcans were scrapped shortly afterwards.

The cost and practicality of converting Nimrods is being studied and no final decisions have been taken, but senior RAF officials said a “big, versatile platform” could be valuable in attacking terrorist targets because of its long patrolling time and speedy response.

“We need to be able to find, identify, locate precisely, decide about and attack a target all within a small number of minutes, rather than the hours, or even days, that it’s taken us in the past,” Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, said in a speech to the Royal Aeronautical Society last week. “This is particularly true in the kinds of asymmetric [anti-terrorist] situations in which we increasingly have to operate.”

RAF sources said the Nimrod upgrade would be a relatively cheap way of filling the gap in capabilities.

A dozen Nimrods are already being modernised to double their range to almost 7,000 miles and improve anti-submarine capability. Few of Britain’s potential enemies have submarines, however, and it is being earmarked for intelligence and communications.

The study, by BAE Systems, is looking at the possibility of the planes carrying up to five Storm Shadows. These British-designed cruise missiles were first used in action by Tornados against Iraqi bunkers in 2003.

The latest upgrade of the Nimrod, the MRA4, could be adapted to carry two Storm Shadows under each wing and another in a bomb bay. It could fly missions of 17 hours or more, with air-to-air refuelling, and hit targets with the missiles from up to 400 miles away.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Tree stump 'shows image of Virgin Mary'
• BBC drops Strictly judge for younger model
• Trafalgar Square 'reduced to a spectacle'