Quick Reaction Alert

Quick Reaction Alert, known colloquially as QRA, is state of readiness and modus operandi of air defence maintained at all hours of the day by NATO, mainly involving the Royal Air Force (RAF).

File:RAF Tyhoon Russian Intercept.jpg

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

Operation

QRA in the United Kingdom

Pilots on QRA duty are at immediate readiness twenty-four hours a day fully dressed in the Aircrew 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. Two Typhoon aircraft are on duty, each with two 2,000 litre drop tanks, four Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missiles (ASRAAM), and four AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles.

QRA response

A QRA response involves the fighter aircraft being scrambled to investigate an infringement of the NATO country's airspace. 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 and RAF Air Command, if notified, decides whether to send a QRA response.

A QRA Tornado F3 of 111 Sqn at Leuchars intercepting a Russian Blackjack Tupolev Tu-160 flying west of Stornoway on 10 March 2010

QRA RAF stations

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

• RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire looks after the southern sector of the UK, known as QRA South.
• RAF Lossiemouth in Moray protects the northern sector of the UK, referred to as QRA North., hosted by 1 Sqn, No. 2 Squadron RAF and 6 Sqn.

History

Quick Reaction Alert is the current development from scrambling by RAF Fighter Command in the Battle of Britain.

United Kingdom

QRA North was moved from RAF Leuchars to RAF Lossiemouth on 1 September 2014.

2012 Olympics

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

Typhoon of 3 Sqn intercepts a Russian Flanker Sukhoi Su-27 over the Baltic states on 17 June 2014

See also

• ACCS
• Baltic Air Policing
• Cold War II
• Combined Air Operations Centre Finderup
• Integrated NATO Air Defense System

External links

• September 2012 MoD document