Members of the public were yesterday urged to turn out in force next week to bid farewell to the three flying squadrons based at RAF Kinloss in Moray. About 100 servicemen and women from the three Kinloss-based former Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft squadrons will march through Forres next Tuesday to exercise the air station's right to the freedom of the town, two days before the units are disbanded following the defence review.

The airfield will officially cease to operate on 31 July and the three flying squadrons - 42 (Reserve), CXX and 201 (Guernsey's Own) - will be disbanded next Thursday in a private ceremony at the base before the Duke of Edinburgh, who is Honorary Air Commodore to RAF Kinloss. Councillor George McIntyre, convener of Moray Council, said the final public parade of squadron personnel through the streets of Forres would be an "emotional occasion". He added: "RAF Kinloss has been part of the local community for more than 70 years."

Meanwhile, shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy has urged the government to reopen its Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR). The coalition unveiled thousands of forces' job cuts and the scrapping of flagship projects last October. But since then popular uprisings have taken place in Arab countries and Britain has deployed fighter planes and bomber jets to Libya.

Reports yesterday suggested a three-month "mini-SDSR" was under way and due to report in July. It could include the immediate scrapping of the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, the abandoning of a £2 billion scheme to buy armoured vehicles and the ditching of a £16bn deal to purchase jets.

Hundreds of people in Moray are paying tribute to three flying squadrons based at RAF Kinloss. About 100 personnel are marching through Forres on Tuesday, two days before the squadrons are disbanded following the defence review. The airfield at the Moray base will cease to operate after 31 July.

Moray Council convener George McIntyre said the march is "an emotional occasion". He said: "RAF Kinloss has been part of the local community for more than 70 years. The station was granted the Freedom of Forres in 1962 in recognition of the strong links it had forged with the civilian community in the area. Since then those links have become ever stronger and RAF Kinloss has become an integral part of life in Moray."

Campaigners from both Moray and Leuchars who are fighting to save the RAF bases there have met with First Minister Alex Salmond. Their meeting comes ahead of a planned visit with Defence Secretary Liam Fox on Thursday.

The economic, defence and community arguments to retain Scotland's RAF defence footprint are overwhelming, Mr Salmond said following the meeting with the task forces. During the meeting he listened to the views of community representatives on how the UK Government's Strategic Defence Review would have a devastating impact on their communities if bases close.

First Minister Alex Salmond met with Defence Secretary Liam Fox to reiterate the convincing case for retaining both RAF Leuchars and RAF Lossiemouth bases. With the UK Government's UK Basing Review decisions due to be published by July 19 the First Minister used his latest meeting with Mr Fox to try and influence the MoD recommendations which go to the UK Cabinet for a final decision.

The talks follow meeting between the First Minister, John Swinney, Bruce Crawford and representatives from the Moray and Leuchars Task Forces in Edinburgh. Speaking after the meeting in Glasgow Mr Salmond said: "This was a constructive discussion and we now have a timescale for when a decision will be made."

A disbandment parade is taking place at RAF Kinloss, following the decision to close the airbase in the UK’s defence cuts which were announced last October. The three flying squadrons at the Moray airbase are being officially disbanded in a ceremony on Thursday.

The three squadrons are Number 42 (Reserve) Squadron, CXX Squadron and 201 (Guernsey's Own) Squadron. They will parade in front of the station’s honorary air commodore, the Duke of Edinburgh. RAF Kinloss was stripped of its main operational role by the decision to scrap the Nimrod reconnaissance fleet.

Defence Secretary Liam Fox has hailed the future of the UK's defence capabilities as he cut the first steel for a new aircraft carrier. Parts of the HMS Prince of Wales - the second of the new Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers - were cut in a ceremony at the BAE Systems shipyard in Govan, Glasgow. Dr Fox started the computer-guided laser to cut the first piece of hull for the 65,000-tonne ship - the largest to be built for the Royal Navy.

He also met members of the workforce as he was given a tour of the facility. Dr Fox said the new carriers marked a "step change" in the UK's strike capability. He said: "We are committed to delivering this next generation of powerful British aircraft carriers that will mark a step change in our carrier strike capability and form the cornerstone of the Royal Navy's future force 2020. This major construction project is creating and sustaining thousands of jobs in shipyards around the country."

THE military footprint in Scotland is to be increased in the government's basing review, to be published this summer. However, the revelation yesterday came as Defence Secretary Liam Fox warned "uncertainty" caused by the prospect of an independence referendum could hit shipbuilding jobs on the Clyde and in Rosyth.

The government plans to at least double or even treble the number of soldiers based in Scotland by 2015 with troops returning from Germany. It is expected that Scotland will be home to one of the new multi-purpose brigades of 6,000 troops includin
g infantry battalions and heavy armour, probably the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. Currently there are 3,220 soldiers based north of the Border.

Defence Secretary Liam Fox has hinted RAF Lossiemouth could be spared in the latest defence cuts. The RAF is to leave Kinloss, in Moray, with the future of of bases in Lossiemouth, also in Moray and Leuchars, in Fife, uncertain.

Mr Fox told Westminster's Scottish Affairs Committee he was aware of the economic consequences for Moray, if two bases were to go. Final decisions on the future of the bases will be revealed soon.

FORT George, the historic garrison built in the aftermath of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion and an army base ever since, is to cease being used as a barracks, Scotland on Sunday has learned. The fort near Inverness - regarded as one of the finest examples of 18th century military engineering - is to become another casualty of the UK government's defence review, led by Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox. A senior Ministry of Defence source told Scotland on Sunday that the base would close as a result of the review.

Soldiers of the Black Watch, currently stationed at Fort George, will be the last troops to leave the barracks when they move to RM Condor in Arbroath, Angus, currently the home of 45 Commando. The marines of 45 Commando are to end their 40-year association with Arbroath and will head to the West Country near Plymouth to be nearer "appropriate training facilities".

The changes will be announced next month by Fox when he unveils his department's reconfiguration of bases and stationing of military personnel. Fox promised last week that the military footprint in Scotland in terms of headcount would actually increase despite the loss of around 2,500 RAF personnel. The closure of Fort George will hit the Inverness area hard and follows the closure of RAF Kinloss in nearby Moray.

RAF Leuchars must be retained to prevent a 9/11-style terrorist attack on Scotland, Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, is warned today. In a letter to the Secretary of State, which intensifies the battle over the Ministry of Defence’s review of military bases, Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell, the former Liberal Democrat leader, spells out starkly the threat to Scotland and northern England as well as the necessity to retain the base, whose squadron of Eurofighter Typhoons could react in minutes to an emergency.

“The strategic defence case for RAF Leuchars is overwhelming,” says Sir Menzies. “Its proximity to more than four million people in Scotland and to highly sensitive installations such as Torness nuclear power station, Faslane nuclear submarine base and Grangemouth oil refinery is significant as it means fighter aircraft scrambled in the event of an emergency can be overhead and engaged with any target in a matter of a few minutes.” His remarks come as David Cameron on a visit to RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire yesterday insisted the UK Government would “never compromise on our nation’s security” and described the RAF as “completely and utterly essential”.

LEUCHARS could be saved as an RAF base after a late change of heart in the Ministry of Defence's review of its base closures. The Scotsman has learned that the base in north-east Fife has moved ahead of Lossiemouth in Moray in the battle for survival, as Defence Secretary Liam Fox prepares to announce the future shape of military basing in the next two weeks.

It is understood that, while a final decision has yet to be taken, pro-Leuchars factions in the RAF have made the case that its closure would leave a strategic gap in the UK's defences. A senior MoD source told The Scotsman Leuchars' rapid- reaction role was "vital". He went on: "It works well with Coningsby (in Lincolnshire] with the Typhoons and, while they could go to Lossiemouth, the extra distance is a problem."

RAF Leuchars has lost its battle with RAF Lossiemouth to remian as the last operating RAF base in Scotland, The Scotsman has been told. But the Fife base will be handed over the the army to house troops and significant numbers of troops will also be based at RAF Kinloss from 2014 as the Ministry of Defence seeks to increase the number of military personnel in Scotland,

As part of the defence reorganisation, the MoD will at least double the number of troops based in Scotland to more than 6,000 in the next few years, as previously revealed in The Scotsman. Typhoons currently based at Leuchars will shortly be transferred to Lossiemouth whose Tornados are to be pulled back to Marham in Norfolk, the third RAF base which had been under threat.

Presumably this year's Leuchars Air Show will be the last. And as I can't imagine droves of people heading up to Lossiemouth, I doubt if the RAF is likely to mount a major airshow there.

Communities around Edinburgh's Dreghorn and Redford barracks will be hit hard by the shock closure of the two army bases, politicians warned today. The barracks will be shut, along with the Craigiehall army headquarters near Cramond, within the next three years, and the sites sold off.

The controversial decision was announced by Defence Secretary Liam Fox as part of his defence review, which will also see the creation of a new "super barracks" at Kirknewton, West Lothian, and an expansion of Glencorse barracks near Penicuik. The Dreghorn and Redford closures will see hundreds of army families leave the Colinton area, where some schools are said to be up to 90 per cent populated by children of service personnel.

CONTROVERSIAL plans to close historic barracks in Edinburgh and build a new complex outside the city are not certain to go ahead, according to the army’s commanding officer in Scotland. Speaking at the High Constables’ dinner in the city, Major- General David Shaw made it clear that a key part of the bases review is now in doubt.

His comments could indicate a reprieve for the Redford and Dreghorn barracks in Edinburgh. That suggestion has been backed up by other military sources, who told The Scotsman the Ministry of Defence was having a rethink of the scheme proposed by former defence secretary Dr Liam Fox in his bases review.

PLANS to build a £400 million army super-barracks on the outskirts of Edinburgh have been scrapped by the Ministry of Defence less than a year after they were first announced, Scotland on Sunday has learned. An internal review has concluded the contentious proposal was too expensive and based on “flawed logic” involving the sale of historic barracks in the city, said MoD sources.

The yet-to-be-announced decision grants a reprieve to the Craigiehall HQ north of Edinburgh as well as either Dreghorn or Redford barracks on the city’s outskirts. The remaining site is expected to be sold. The initial plan, announced by Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox last July, was to fund a new super-barracks on an old glider field in Kirknewton, West Lothian, with cash raised from selling all three.

THE government has been forced to confirm an embarrassing U-turn over the fighter jets which will fly from its new aircraft carriers. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond yesterday announced it will return to a jump-jet version of the joint strike fighter (JSF) – the one the government ditched in its Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) in 2010.

The decision to abandon the version that required catapult and traps on the carriers could be good news for RAF Lossiemouth in Moray, with Whitehall sources suggesting that it makes it more likely the planes will be based there. The alternative base is RAF Marham in Norfolk, but the extra noise created by the type-B jet could rule it out because of the higher number of homes nearby.

A veteran of the D-Day landings has welcomed modern-day colleagues from 39 Engineer Regiment who will based in Scotland for the first time. Burghead man Andrew Robertson was a sapper deployed with the Royal Engineers during the Second World War and was one of the first to land on the Normandy beaches.

The 88-year-old was delighted to chat with Scottish members of the Regiment who will this month officially take over the RAF base at Kinloss in Moray. They met at the ‘Slappy’ in Burghead, a local beach used by troops rehearsing landings ahead of their day with destiny in 1944.