Red Arrows: Flying the flag for Britain abroad

Britain’s Red Arrows will perform their famous aerobatics with displays and flypasts for the first time ever in China, and are also due to perform in India, Malaysia and Singapore, defence secretary Michael Fallon said on Tuesday (July 26).

Planning is on to finalise details of the Red Arrows deployment, as Britain seeks to reiterate its commitment to the Asia Pacific region.

Last year, when India’s prime minister Narendra Modi visited the UK, the Red Arrows performed a flypast over Westminster with the colours of the Indian flag – the first time ever that the honour was accorded to a visiting leader.

Then prime minister David Cameron revealed later that it was quite the task to source the right colours for the Red Arrows.

“I can’t tell you how many officials it took in the Ministry of Defence to find the orange smoke. It was one of the most complicated procurement acts we had in recent times,” he said.

Fallon said: “Our RAF Red Arrows and Typhoons represent the best of British. The Red Arrows will fly the flag for Britain in key export markets while our RAF Typhoons will exercise with our allies.”