The commander of the country’s biggest RAF station has insisted it is keeping up with the need for aircraft to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Group Captain Malcolm Brecht conceded that there had been times when RAF Brize Norton, in west Oxfordshire, had "struggled to cope" with the demands of moving troops and equipment and providing in-flight refuelling of fighter jets.

But the base’s ageing fleet of VC10 and TriStar planes was still up to the job, he said.

His comments followed publication on Thursday of a report by the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, which said there were "real doubts" that the former airliners - which are up to 40 years old - could stay in service until early in the next decade.

The committee said that it was "very concerned" that last November only 41 of the 75 Tri-Stars, VC-10s and Hercules transport planes - based at Lyneham in Wiltshire -were available for "required tasks".   ……more