'It would be a crime if we rushed into buying foreign'

One source said that defence chiefs are headline

- 

favouring the Missouri and Indiana-built Boeing-Saab T-7A Red Hawk as the replace ment, in collaboration with BAE Systems.

One alternative jet is built by Italian firm Leonardo - the Aermacchi M-346 - originally developed with Russian firm Yakovlev.

The only UK-designed-and-built contender is the Aeralis, which would be made in sites across England and finished at a western Scotland facility. The Bristol firm is yet to build a prototype.

A decision on replacing the Hawk has been repeatedly delayed but with the ageing jets increasingly unreliable, an insider has confirmed that civil servants remain insistent on running an expensive competition.

With this yet to start, it is feared that Aeralis may look to move operations out of the UK amid the continued uncertainty.

Ex-BAE boss Mr Turner said he doubted that the Red Arrows’ Hawks could be replaced in four years’ time unless officials “got on it quickly”.