From Defence News: 22 December 2008
The RAF and the Fleet Air Arm
An article in the Sunday Times claims that the RAF is trying to take over the Royal Navy's Historic Fleet Air Arm and assume control of all Army helicopters in a cut of more than £1bn from the Defence Budget. This is nonsense.
The article further suggests that Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy, is attempting to push through proposals to scrap the 75 Harrier jump jets currently shared between the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force and that First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band is threatening to resign as a result. As we have previously reported in this blog, the views of the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy and the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Jonathon Band were misrepresented and comments attributed to them were without foundation.
To clarify once again, there are no RAF plans to take over the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, nor is there any RAF campaign under the slogan "one nation, one air force". As for the comments on helicopters, there is already a single Joint Helicopter Command, which involves all three Services. There are no plans to put all helicopters under a single Service.
So there you have it chaps. It is all a storm in a teacup without a vestige of truth, so you can now all rest easy and the inter-Service willy-waving can stop.
