Any military Green IR (aeroplane) holder can apply for an IMC Rating without any need for exam or test. This is because the 'old' UK CPL/ATPL IMC privileges, lost by the CAA through their own cock-up when JAR-FCL came along, still apply to military pilots.
BEagle,
No matter how they obtain the rating, it is attached to a licence and no matter who they are in the Military world, when exercising the privileges of that licence and the ratings therein, they are no different from you and me in terms of the legal requirements to operate to in the case of IMC ratings to the appropriate minima.
If I am flying a CAT 2 certified aircraft to a CAT 2 certified runway, I can not simply decide to dispense with the 200ft DH and 550m RVR requirement for CAT 1 because I think that I am capable of getting to the CAT 2 minima safely........I can only do so when I hold an appropriate authority to do so. Anything else would be reckless endangerment of the aircraft...........or if in my other job, I have CAT 2 approval that would not make it OK either.
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The CAA may have messed up but it had nothing to do with JAR-FCL. As it has been pointed out to me, the CAA can still give a free IMC rating to every new CPL issued in the UK.By giving new JAR-CPL's a free IMC rating would counteract the loss of the embeded instrument privileges of the UK-CPL.
All it needs is some typing in the National Ratings section.
Regards,
DFC