To reply to the initial comment from E-, navs are being binned by the RAF, just maybe not as fast as he would like.
Like Air Eng, it is now pretty much a dead trade. In a few years time the C-130K and VC-10 will have gone, and the only navs left (IN SIGNIFICANT NUMBERS) will be on GR4, E-3D and the training system. Of these:
GR4 will be gone in the next 5-10 years, if manning get their act right they will ensure there are already enough FJ navs in the system to last that long.
E-3D might last a bit longer, with a few navs if they have not been replaced by technology, or a 3rd pilot(I believe a US E3 mid life update took out the nav many years ago - but am willing to be corrected).
Training. Either training will go to the civil sector under MFTS, or the RAF will decide it already has enough navs in the system to meet its requirements for the next 10 years. After all, Air Eng training has stopped, and there are still Air Engs on the E-3D for the next 10 years (replaced by a 3rd/4th pilot?). I believe the RAF has only been recruiting navs on short service commissions for some time now.
Whichever way you look at it, the RAF requirement for navs will be almost non existant in 10 years, with a marked drop (i.e. "binning") well before then.
So E-, to return to my original comment in this post, the RAF will be "binning" its navs in the near future - just maybe not as fast as you would like!
Oh yes, and for what it is worth, they are supposedly now WSOs not Navs.
