Royal Air Force and replacement by the F-35, the RAF Lossiemouth-based 15 (Reserve) Squadron (the Tornado Operational Conversion Unit) was disbanded in March 2017. Lightning: On 23 November 2015 it was announced that a total of 138 F-35Bs will be ordered. 617 (The Dambusters) Squadron officially reformed on 18 April 2018 as an RAF Lightning Squadron. The first four aircraft arrived at RAF Marham on 7 June 2018. The Sentry AEW1, based at RAF Waddington, provides airborne early warning to detect incoming enemy aircraft and to co-ordinate the aerial battlefield. The Sentinel R1 (formally known as ASTOR – Airborne STand-Off Radar) provides a
RAF Brampton Wyton. The tri-station amalgamation was disbanded on 2 April 2012 and RAF Brampton was renamed Brampton Camp, losing its status as a RAF station and coming under the control of Joint Forces Command and RAF Wyton. In March 2012, the gate guardian – a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II aircraft with tail number XT914 – was removed from RAF Brampton and transported to Wattisham airfield in Suffolk. The Phantom had previously flown in two of the squadrons based at what was RAF Wattisham (No. 56 Squadron RAF and No. 74 Squadron RAF) in the 1980s and 90s. It had been