From a flyer on the latest of the Officer Aircrew Sustainability Review:
The SDSR 10 established a future RAF front-line smaller, but more capable,
than the RAF of 2010. This means that in the 2020s and beyond there will not be enough experienced officer aircrew available to fill all of the ground jobs that they have historically filled. The Officer Aircrew Sustainability Review (OASR) examined, in consultation with job holders and the non-flying Branch Sponsors, how many and which ground jobs the reduced number of Regular officer aircrew could fill in the future. The Review recommended that the other jobs be transferred to either a non-flying Branch or the Reserves. The Air Force Board Standing Committee has agreed that appropriate jobs, across all ranks up to
Gp Capt, should slowly be transferred to non-flying Branches in order to keep the Flying Branch ‘balanced’ as its strength declines. This could mean that the non-flying Branches could have to recruit and train more junior officers in order to take-on these jobs in the future. A further review of which Flying Branch posts, both flying and ground, could be transferred to the Reserves or deleted will be conducted in 2015.
More recent OASR work has identified that the number of pilots and WSO’s being trained is insufficient to provide experienced junior-officer aircrew to fill some of the non front-line flying jobs such as flying instructors and loan-service aircrew. In particular, a shortage of flying instructors on flying training and operational conversion units could limit aircrew training and front-line manning, a vicious circle which we must break. Moreover there is a risk that the reduced number
of junior officer pilots and WSO’s could restrict the RAF’s ability to expand or to extend its front-line flying capabilities at short notice. Consequently, the need for aircrew to fill non front-line posts is being reviewed to ensure that appropriate priority is focused on filling the front-line flying posts. The Flying Branch is facing significant challenges; Air Sec’s team is focussed on ensuring that the RAF has a capable and resilient Flying Branch fit for the future.
Standby for some more FTRS posts for aircrew in the New Year then...
LJ