engaged in active combat. Between 1993 and 1995, several were used to escort NATO aircraft engaged in Operation Deny Flight over Bosnia; in 1999, the type conducted combat air patrols during Operation Allied Force in Yugoslavia. During these extended overseas deployments, the Tornado F3 reportedly proved troublesome to maintain at operational readiness while based outside the UK. Following lengthy delays in the Eurofighter programme to develop a successor to the F3 interceptor, the RAF initiated a major upgrade program in the late 1990s to enhance the aircraft's capabilities, primarily by integrating several newer air-to-air missiles. During 2003, the Tornado F3 was one of the assets used in Operation Telic, Britain's contribution to the Iraq War. An expeditionary force composed of No. 43 (F) and No. 111 (F) Squadrons (known as Leuchars Fighter Wing), and No. 11 Squadron RAF and No. 25 Squadron RAF (known as Leeming Fighter Wing), was deployed to the region to carry out offensive counter-air operations. The Tornado F3's of Leuchars Fighter Wing operated all over Iraq, including missions over and around Baghdad, throughout Operation Telic. Due to a lack of airborne threats materialising in the theatre, the F3s were withdrawn and returned to European bases that same year. As part of the Delivering Security in a Changing World White Paper, on 21 July 2004, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon detailed plans to reduce the number of Tornado F3 squadrons by one to three squadrons. This represented 16 aircraft and was the first stage in the transition to the F3's replacement, the Eurofighter Typhoon, which entered operational service with the RAF in 2005. In April 2009, it was announced that the Tornado F3 force would be reduced to one squadron of 12 aircraft in September 2009. The last operational Tornado F3s in RAF service were retired when No. 111 (F) Squadron, located at RAF Leuchars, was disbanded on 22 March 2011. In addition to the RAF's Tornado F3s, in 2007, QinetiQ leased four Tornado F3s from the MOD for the purpose of conducting weapons testing activities. QinetiQ's force of four F3s remained flying beyond the RAF's retirement of the type, in their latter service they were being used for aerial testing of the new MBDA Meteor air-to-air missile, and thus were the only flying examples in the UK for a time. Their final mission was flown on 20 June 2012, and the last three flown to RAF Leeming