What is the current Officer/Airman ratio just now?
From November 2009:
Air Cdre and above 130
Gp Capt 330
Wg Cdr 1,230
Sqn Ldr 2,540
Flt Lt and below 4,260
Officers total 8,480
Required Strength 8,670
WO 1,210
CT/FS 3,180
Sgt 6,210
Cpl 8,370
SAC and below 11,930
Other ranks total 30,900
Required Strength 32,190
I make that an actual officer to OR ratio of 1:3.64 or the requirement is 1:3.71.
The figures above from Hansard show that we are 30 air ranks overborne, as well as 40 Gp Capts, 100 Wg Cdrs, 120 Sqn Ldrs but 560 Flt Lts and below underborne. Therefore, the officer cadre is net underborne by 190.
For the ORs we have 130 too many WOs, manning balance for CT/FS, 400 too few Sgts, 270 too few Cpls and 730 too few SACs and below. Therefore, OR cadre is net underbourne by 1,290.
On the officers side, this is why there are only 28 Wg Cdrs being promoted this year (45 last year) when the "norm" was around 65. The same for Sqn Ldrs where there are about 68 this year, compared to about 120 being promoted in a normal year.
The ORs are also "top heavy" at the WO level - this is also why it is so hard for guys/gals to get their MACR. However, if you're new to the RAF the chances to advance to Cpl and then Sgt are better than normal.
Finally, as has already been said, we need Sqn Ldrs/Wg Cdrs to fill the miriad of NATO/Overseas jobs that require equivalency in post. Often, if we fill it with an under-ranked indivdual we lose out in NATO as other countries are soooo very rank conscious. Also, as I understand it, we are over-borne on non-aircrew Sqn Ldrs and Wg Cdrs and Gp Capts but have less aircrew-types - hence the FRI for aircrew Sqn Ldrs.
I hope that all makes sense (apologies if some of my numbers don't add up - too many beers last night!).
The B Word
PS. I believe that there is about 8-10% of the RAF that makes up Aircrew Cadre - I believe it is about 50 Gp Capts, 150 Wg Cdrs, 350 Sqn Ldrs and about 1,200 Flt Lts. On top of that about 260 MACR (from DASA site), about 400 FS and 800 Sgts (of the "plastic" NCO variety!). About 3% of these are female (from the DASA site). About 3,200 to 3,500 (max) in total.
Last edited by The B Word; 24th Jul 2010 at 09:51.