RAF Lossiemouth crews in temporary move back to Fife

An RAF Lossiemouth Typhoon, bottom, and a Russian Bear-F Tu-142

An RAF Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) group based in Scotland is to temporarily move from Lossiemouth in Moray to Leuchars in Fife next month.

QRA crews at Lossiemouth and RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire intercept unidentified aircraft approaching UK airspace.

Recent incidents have included Russian military planes near UK airspace.

The Lossiemouth group's move to Fife on 10 August is to allow for a major revamp of Moray station's runway.

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QRA crews had previously operated from Leuchars until 2014 when the group relocated to Lossiemouth. Leuchars has been an army barracks since 2015.

Round-the-clock construction work is to be carried out at Lossiemouth from 17 August to enable the "swift return" of the Typhoons from Leuchars, the RAF said.

Typhoon training done at Lossiemouth will temporarily move to nearby Kinloss Barracks.

The improvements to the runway will mean it can accommodate larger aircraft, including a fleet of P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.