My first rebut is in regards to crewman redundancies on tranche 1. To the best of my knowledge there was 0. I respond with how many AEOps were deployed on operations at that time? Within a generic branch surely redundancies should be role specific? With no Nimrods make all those crews redundant. Likewise if Merlin or Puma goes make those crews redundant. So on and so forth. Otherwise the option is continue as we are to clog up our training pipeline with crossovers to the point ab initios end up with anything up to 2 to 3 year holds leaving a significant gap to hit in the future. Perhaps the younger generation can hang on long enough to see a large FRI in 7 years or so!
Secondly regarding the perception the Air Force is stringing people along.... Rumours on the shop floor suggest decisions have been made regarding Puma 2 and Merlin. Yet the powers that be refuse to disclose the state of play. The cynic in me suggests that telling crews their job is ending imminently would end in a distinct shift in their work effort. Tell them there might still be hope and they will keep working hard?????
