from Alert 5 via the Daily Telegraph.
Well that's that. They're cutting muscle and the future of the force from the budget now. I wonder why they couldn't just reduce by attrition?Up to 100 student pilots will be told the news on Tuesday with some of them only a few hours away from becoming fully qualified to fly fighters, helicopters and transport aircraft.The cuts will mean the waste of an estimated £300million already paid for training the pilots, plus the cost of redundancies. The training of RAF pilots can cost up to £4million a man.There are fears that the sackings will lead to a shortage of helicopter and transport pilots on the front line in Afghanistan.Tomorrow, one in four of the 400 student pilots will be taken aside to be told their commissions have been terminated when Air Vice Marshal Mark Green, the head of RAF training, visits each of the three flying schools.Up to 20 trainee fast jet pilots, 30 helicopter pilots and 50 air transport pilots will be axed, The Daily Telegraph understands.
Calling all RAF pilots, the RAAF has a new shiny fleet of Super Hornets, Wedgetails, C-17's and Heron UAV's as well as an extensively upgraded Hornet, AP-3C Orion and Hercules fleet and a nice new fleet of JSF's, new trainers (PC-9A replacement) more Hercules, P-8A's, Global Hawks and C-27J or C-295m battlefield airlifters on the way in the next 5-10 years.
ReplyDeleteArmy has a new fleet (still building) of Tigers and MRH-90's, has a new fleet of Chinooks and a brand new training/light utility helicopter (Bell 407 or EC-635) on the way and RAN is getting a new fleet of MH-60 Romeos or NFH-90 anti-submarine helos, to be ordered this year.
Plenty of flying opportunities, good beaches, good weather, some rather attractive women, very good pay and even the chance of an operational mission or 2 and some gongs!
Come on down! :)
Seriously though, that seems to me to be one f the more impressive force modernisations going around and if that doesn't interest a military pilot, then why would you be one?
Aussie Digger,
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that we have an optimist amongst us but you know as well as anyone that the Australian defence budget is under strain and being re-assessed.
Lets face facts your recent aquisitions have not been resounding success story's have they.
Wedgetail is years late and is still not working properly,your Super Hornets are interim replacements for F35 which are way down the line and no doubt numbers will be cut due to the price.
MRH-90 is itself under scrutiny due to numerous failings in it's systems and your Naval rotary wing procurement has been up until now a disaster.
If the experience of certain European country's is anything to go by I wouldn't bet on NFH-90 being trouble free either.
Good beaches,pity the sea is full of sharks and box jelly fish so that you have to wear protective clothing before you can enter the water.
Good weather? I don't think the poor sods in Queensland will agree with you on that one,or Victoria for that matter.
Neither are the residents around the area of Perth having it so good what with the bushfires.
Even your chances of an operational mission are under threat as you are now being told that ops in Afghanistan are affecting your country's abilities to carry out missions in your own neighbourhood.
Your force modernisations are at the moment more in the mind,except for the RAN which seems to be comming out of it rather well,that is except for the Collins replacements.
You can't man the ones you've got (that is when they are fit to go to sea) and you certainly can't afford to buy twelve replacements never mind find crews for them.
To top it all, We Won the Ashes mate.
Have a nice day Digger.
Affordability: smaller forces today, better leverage for larger ones tomorrow. Death spiral? Hardly so.
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteWe have 4 Wedgetails in service with the remaining 2 due before the end of 2011. IOC is due by the end of 2011. Yes it's late, but it has yet to achieve the legacy your MR4A Nimrod's have managed, so I wouldn't write it off just yet.
The Super Hornets are the replacement for the venerable F-111. 15 are in-service, IOC has been reached and the remaining 9 aircraft will be delivered in less than 10 months. There is yet to be a decision made on how and when the Super Hornets will be replaced. That decision isn't due until at least 2018.
I agree the MRH-90's are ordinary, but it's too late now. Hopefully the manufacturer can deliver on some of it's promises.
As to the weather, well you got me there. The UK is clearly the more attractive option as far as weather goes...
Regards,
AD
Wait so are they basically being laid off from the RAF? Do they have the opportunity to transfer to a different job in the RAF?
ReplyDeletefrom what i've heard, this is it...end of military career.
ReplyDeletei've even heard that some were sent e-mails informing them of the bad news.
US and UK's casino economies finally caught up to them. Program cuts will be inevitable; executing cuts without stifling growth or compromising security would be an art, if not outright a miracle.
ReplyDelete@ Sol
ReplyDeleteWe would like to see the source for your "i've even heard that some were sent e-mails informing them of the bad news" claim.
It's bullshit unless proven otherwise.
Sol,
ReplyDeleteThere is some truth in your remark re Emails,except that it was not for the RAF trainees but Army Warrant Officers.
Some idiot in the MOD (plenty of them) got things arse about face.
Approx 30/40 warrant officers with over 25yrs service are not having their contracts extended after this year,and the normal routine is for them to be informed by their C.O. and then be sent an Email explaining in detail the circumstances/options.
In this case the Email was sent first by some unknown clown,and the defence sec Liam Fox is said to be furious at this latest cock up and is conducting an investigation.
The Warrant Officers are on what is called the Long Service List, a relatively small group of very senior WO's that are engaged on a short engagement model beyond the normal 22 years
ReplyDeleteThe email was sent in error to them by a Major at the the Army Personnel Centre in Glasgow, one of the recipients is currently serving in Afghanistan.
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/DefencePolicyAndBusiness/DefenceSecretaryRespondsToEmailError.htm
As bad as this is, it was a genuine clerical error