I thought the aim of this privatization exercise was to give the same excellent standard of service that is currently provided by the RAF/RN/MCA but at a much reduced price through the excellent PFI initiatives (Ignoring of course the NHS ones that are now coming home to roost....)?
As a tax payer I am all for saving public money, but wonder exactly how this will be achieved? Firstly, to retain the overall SAR cover, there needs to be a similar basing set up and similar aircraft/crew numbers to provide the coverage, although Limpopo doubts this:
That is assuming, of course, that there hasn't been a review of where the SAR units are located by then and the units cut or amalgamated. Not saying there will be, but it's been done before and who says it wont happen again to help reduce the costs for the MCA?
That seems to go rather against the grain of retaining this excellent (if patchwork) capability that we currently have. And then there is the issue of cheaper. Has there been a study into how much cheaper this will be with civilian rather than military crews, or have we simply assumed that civvies are always cheaper? Again, Limpopo offers an intruiging insight:
Starting salaries would currently be in the region of (dependent on experience and need for direct entry captains):
Capt: £69-73k (+ allowances)
Co-pilots: £51-54k (+ allowances)
These are at the lower bands of the pay scales I might add as I would think it very unlikely to come straight in at anything above about Year 5 for each scale.
Now I imagine that most military SAR crews would love to be earning those salaries, but it rather tips the cost-effectiveness argument on its head! Certainly, whoever wins the contract should have no problem recruiting military aircrew for that sort of money.
So this leaves me wondering if it really will it be a cheaper and better service as promised. Or will it turn out to be a much reduced service and therefore just cheaper?