All is as predicted and as discussed
ad nauseam in a previous thread here:
UK MFTS on or off the rails?
However, this is now so much more than UK MFTS which, following many compromises and the trimming back of the original planned flying hours, is now capable of delivering students in the numbers, and at the pace, that the OCUs can take. But there now lies the problem. The Integrated Review (IR) and the subsequent Command Paper 21 (CP21) were a
total disaster for the RAF with the loss of C130J some 10 years early, the premature removal of E3D (and subsequent sale to Chile), the cancellation of Puma (only to be reinstated with the loss of Bell 212/412 in Brunei and Cyprus), the replacement of BAe 146 with Falcon 900 (but only with 50% military crews to start with), the reduced purchase of Protector numbers (>20 in SDSR15) and the reduction of Wedgetail from 5 airframes to 3.Then the Army-centric JHC (headed by a RAF 2-star!) launched a torpedo at the CH47 fleet by ceasing the planned growth in crew numbers by reducing the total required by 25%; this whilst the training pipeline was primed to deliver the enhancements. Add to that COVID where fewer have left the Service, roughly 100 have rejoined from the failing airlines and some have rescinded their ETs. Then you have this current mess - no places on OCUs for the bow-wave of tri-Service aircrew coming through a 3 year training pipeline (less any holds/holdovers) and then going into an up to 2 year holding pattern for their OCUs.
So this time, it isn’t the recalcitrant UK MFTS’s fault, but a total screw up in MOD for the IR and subsequent CP21 that failed to realise that flying training takes at least 3 years to cope with a change in numbers (really 5 years minimum to make changes to aircrew numbers). Those graduating right now were recruited for the demands set by SDSR15, and so cancelling/slashing aircraft types instantly sees students going into holds yet again for 2 years with reduced throughput/recruiting. So this is a Government lead problem, overseen by MOD and enacted by the senior leadership of the Services (again, there are similar problems in the FAA and the AAC set off by equally dumb decisions).
On that subject, is it any wonder that this has got so out of hand when you have had Wiggy-the-woke (if you remember specially appointed by that idiot Williamson who told “Russia to shut up and go away” (that worked didn’t it!)) and his naked gardening friend Andy-Pandy at the helm this past few years ably assisted by the Girl Blunder (aka The Dentist - who hasn’t even done a full Initial Officer Training Course!) and their sycophantic following all crowing about Stonewall, D&I numbers/quotas , Aviators, Air Specialists, E-scooters, Space, amusing uniform updates, the crazy new operating models and the smoke and mirrors of ASTRA - all whilst the real Rome is burning with no hot water, poor food, mouldy accommodation, removal of proper admin/HR support, failing training pipelines, below inflation pay rises, failures in the basics of supply (the latest being no hats for those graduating Halton and Cranwell - I jest not!) and generally a very unhappy bunch of campers working for the Services. No wonder Uncle Gerry has been so grumpy these past few years, trying to keep that lot in check. If you wanted to write a parody about senior leadership right now then the characters are all in place
The nonsense and fake hysteria of the vanity project ‘ASTRA’ and its ‘Next Gen Air Force’ needs to ramp down immediately. A new regime of operators needs to take the reigns at the top (the newly appointed DCOM Cap & AMP is a beacon of hope) and they need to get after the real stuff that affects people on a day-to-day basis, fix the ‘death by a 1,000 cuts’ (which the USAF call ‘queep’) and get after restoring and maintaining operational capability. If they don’t there will not be a Next Gen Air Force to worry about… or maybe that was the plan all along?
