https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/r...ning-cs2n3fwsm
RAF missing half its pilots after cancelled training
The
Ministry of Defence has failed to train 45 per cent of the pilots the RAF needs over the past six years, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has found.
Cancelled and delayed instruction means there is a shortfall of 125 aircrew a year. A senior MP last night poured scorn on the “saga”. The National Audit Office investigation, published today, found that the MoD was taking 7.1 years to train RAF fast-jet pilots — more than three years longer than the target of 3.9 years.
In May a freedom of information request by an RAF veteran revealed that 350 trainees, comprising 110 signed up to fly helicopters for the army and the Royal Navy plus 240 enlisted to fly fast jets for the RAF, had been grounded because of training delays. Critics warned that long passages of time between different phases of training could lead to skills fading.
The audit office said the government recognised the issues over the training bottleneck for pilots, which resulted largely from severe cuts to aircrew numbers in a 2010 defence review, many of which were reversed in 2015.
Although the government changed its mind about targets for pilot numbers, reversing the cuts to deliver the rise in numbers has proved difficult. Part of the training is designed and managed by Ascent, a venture between the defence contractors Lockheed Martin and Babcock, who signed a 25-year contract in 2008. It is thought it will take up to five years for the shortfall to be fixed.
The MoD is to enrol up to 100 students in a private flying school at a cost of £7.2 million over the next three years. Other British military pilots will be enrolled on Nato training programmes.
Meg Hillier, Labour chairwoman of the public accounts committee, said: “The military flying training saga continues with the MoD repeatedly failing to train the aircrew it needs . . . it is more critical than ever that the MoD’s much delayed new programme works.”
The MoD said: “The Military Flying Training System is the biggest transformation of UK military aircrew training in a generation and we welcome the audit office report on this programme. We acknowledge there have been some challenges, the transition to the new system is now well under way and a steady improvement in aircrew throughout is being seen in all areas.”