Originally Posted by
Easy Street
Here's an idea that needs no new money: bring the Typhoons home from the Middle East (and arguably the Falklands too if the GBAD modernisation is all done) and use a small fraction of the flying hours saved to increase in-house red air provision. Offer some to our continental and USAFE neighbours to generate dissimilar training. Flex the provision up and down to reflect the needs of the day without becoming tied in to a contract. Avoid a regulatory and requirement-setting nightmare. Grow rather more useful airmanship and experience than can be developed burning holes in the sky over the desert. Reduce the crippling deployment burden at the same time. Slow down consumption of Typhoon fleet life to give half a chance of it overlapping with Tempest, given the anaemic funding profile the latter programme is currently saddled with.
All it needs is someone to weigh up the supposed operational benefit of the Middle East and Falklands deployments against the cost and risks of knackering Typhoon and contracting in red air, and the enhanced deterrent value of a well-trained fighter force in NATO's northern region...
You know as well we all do that Typhoon flying lines on the SHADER ATO is now just a political token effort. Just like it always was for Tornado GR4 in the ME in the past when there wasn’t a specific operation that was kinetic. On one level I can’t argue with it because it does justify funding or at least routes for funding due to it being deployed. One only has to look at the demise of Harrier. They argued fiercely to come home from HERRICK to regenerate. They were granted their wish and as soon as they did they were in trouble as they couldn’t justify or generate funding as the platform wasn’t in the politicians eye or in an operational Th. GR4 was and the rest is history. Granted there were some twists and turns along the way.
There is still airmanship and experience to be gained from deploying to SHADER, I would argue that outweighs the experience of flying as Red Air; so I can also see the flip side of contracting it out. Nobody will have to fly Red so all the experience will be done as Blue, which is a win.
The contract has to be written and set properly, which is within the MoD’s gift, but they often execute it poorly. I imagine the companies that bid for it won’t take the micky on the scale that BAE do. As I understand it, this is an interim contract before we get to the real Red Air contract which will be Next Gen Operational Training; successor to ASDOT. Which occurs in a few years time.
Interesting thought though, Easy Street. On balance I’m for a Red Air contract though.