RAF Kinloss in Moray will close in August, STV News understands.

The airbase was deemed surplus to requirements after ministers took the decision last year to scrap the £4bn fleet of the Nimrod MRA4 planes, as part of deep defence cuts.

The government had previously pledged to do "everything it can" to soften the blow and may use Kinloss to as an Army transit base.

Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey visited Moray on Thursday to meet civilian and RAF staff at both RAF Kinloss and Lossiemouth. He also met members of the Moray Task Force at RAF Kinloss, who will be bitterly disappointed at the news that the axe will finally fall in August.

Union leaders joined former defence chiefs in damning the decision to scrap a fleet of nine new RAF Nimrod aircraft that cost nearly £4bn to build.

Earlier this week cranes started to dismantle the planes at BAE plant at Woodford, Greater Manchester, in a demolition job reported to be costing £200m.

On a campaigner group's website Unite argues that alternatives to the Nimrods will be ineffective. "Defence of the nation has been compromised" it says. The scrapping of the MRA4s will also see hundreds of job losses.

The decision to abandon them was made during last Ocober's Government's Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) which effectively signalled the closure of RAF Kinloss.

FROM STV LOCAL:

• RAF base to be spared? Lossiemouth reacts.
• Task Force keep up pressure
• Lossie campaign on song
• Lossiemough campaign moves on Westminster
• Closure of RAF bases could put Moray schools at risk
• Hollywood star McGregor backs Save Lossie rally

IN DETAIL:

• Defence cuts: axe falls on RAF Kinloss as Nimrods cancelled
• Alex Salmond backs RAF Lossiemouth and Leuchars at Westminster
• Future of RAF Lossiemouth to be decided in 2011
• Moray business leaders unite in wake of cuts
• Defence cuts: 'A black day for Moray'
• D-DAY for Moray airbases: impact on local community
• PM delivers defence cuts speech: the speech in full
• Moray RAF bases: A snapshot 
• Armed forces minister to meet staff and civilians at threatened RAF bases
• £4bn Nimrod planes destroyed for scrap metal