Crew shortages featuring today’s
Sunday Times Scottish edition..
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/r...crew-bwsc6wgx7
RAF’s Poseidon sub hunter not fully operational due to lack of crew
A £2.2 billion Scottish-based fleet of aircraft intended to monitor Russian submarine movements is not fully operational because the RAF lacks crews to fly them.
The last of nine high-tech
Poseidon sub-hunting jets arrived at RAF Lossiemouth in Moray in January but The Sunday Times has learnt there are only enough crews trained up to fly five of them, despite concerns about
Russian submarine activity now reaching Cold War levels…..
James Heappey, the Armed Forces minister, revealed in a parliamentary written answer that only five Poseidon crews and two contingents of instructors had been trained by this January. He said that a further 16 RAF personnel began training to operate the Poseidon in March but defence sources say that they won’t be ready for action until early next year. It had originally planned that 18 crews would be trained up to operate the Poseidons.….
In a statement the RAF said: “All nine of our Poseidon aircraft are flying regularly on crew training and on operations, including Russia-facing tasks. Over the next two years the RAF will increase its annual flying rate as crew numbers build to full operating capability in 2024.”
A senior RAF source denied any of the planes were in storage. He said the RAF had decided to prioritise buying the aircraft because the US manufacturer, Boeing, offered a discount if the UK tagged on its order to a production run already under way for the US, Australia and Norway.
Covid-related issues also caused delays installing simulators at Lossiemouth to allow training to step up, said the source.