The Ministry of Defence announced last week that RAF Typhoons would drop bombs on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's tanks and other ground targets. But so far this has not happened, because the planes' pilots are not considered to be properly trained in ground attacks.In a further embarrassment, laser targeting pods for the Typhoons, which cost £160 million, have been left in packing crates because the RAF has not been able to pay for its pilots to train to use them.
Four of the 10 Typhoons based at Gioia del Colle in southern Italy were to be sent on bombing missions until the RAF realised that pilots were not qualified to drop weapons. A National Audit Office report this year said that only eight of their pilots were trained in ground attack operations.
The cuts in Typhoon pilot training were ordered by the last government, but the Coalition confirmed the plans in the Strategic Defence and Security Review in October. RAF chiefs told the audit office that to save money, they would not begin training all Typhoon pilots in ground attacks until at least 2014.