Purple the real agenda

[spicycoke]

Is it true that if the the army falls below 100k it will be renamed a militia? I have seen the purple plan. By eventually absorbing the Rotary force, re-badging us, they will maintain the &gt;100k.God bless jointery!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

[Unwell_Raptor]

Was it not Napoleon who replied to the question:-"What will you do if the British Army lands in France?" with:- "I will have them arrested by the Police". .. .Look what happened to him.

[swifty]

up 5, if you're correct, i'm off.

[Will Adams]

You have the master plan slightly wrong spicycoke. The real aim is rather more simple. In place at the joint units now, we have the rather pleasurable position of having one of our boys writing the OJAR of each senior Hairy Arm Corps chappie. This means we have them nicely split. At JHC, JHFNI and Odiham we control them with the annual report. As long as the senior pongo thinks he can go a bit further, they have to be rather nice to their boss. So before the real Rotary Force can be re-capbadged, I think we can get the Pongo budget owners to ditch their expensive flying machines followed by the Army Expensive little corps. Just a case of dangling carrots and allow the 'controlled' pongos to make the difficult decisions for us - and all achieved in the best possible jointery taste.

[A Grey Man]

Don't tell them all......current money is on 3-5 years. It looks as though the Sea King boys are short finals for the 'purple helmet' award 2002 (ish) and it will not be long before everyone will be wanting a slice of the Apache action forcing the AAC boys (who are obviously the poorer Service when it comes to things that fly) to forget their little Corps and come on over to the 'purple' side and get looked after properly by the JHC which is currnetly headed up by....yep you've guessed it......the Royal Air Force.

Place your bets.......

[Green Bottle]

GM,

The 3 Regts which will be getting the Apache are in 16 Bde who is commanded by?? Oh yes JHC as it has been for the last 2 years.

GB

:)

[A Grey Man]

Green Bottle....



OK.....you are right.

;)

[FJJP]

...Er, maybe it goes deeper than that RAF-wise:

Transfer to the Army - helicopters, air transport (inc 32 Sqn) , GR4s.

To the Navy - maritime fleet, Harriers, F3s

Civilian contract - training

NATO - E3Ds

That leaves ...er, 51 Sqn.

Just think of all the bureaucracy you could lose by transferring all of the above as indicated. All those lovely Air Marshalls and their syncophantic cling-ons - gone. To seal it all, no more Binnsworth!

:rolleyes:

[Muff Coupling]

Oh Dear..some of you are well off the beaten track on the so called Purple Agenda.

1. Who on earth believes that the JHC was created to COMMAND anything? Joint Helicopter AGENCY more like it. It is PJHQ and LAND that calls the shots on the helo requirements for the Force / Componant Commanders..JHA (aka The Wilton Home for surplus RAF Officers) merely transmits a shed load of signals and paperwork, knowing that CO CHF, CO's of the AAC Regts and the Wokka Fleet have already worked out that there isnt enough serviceable airframes to keep pilots current, let alone support gun boat diplomacy up the Hindu Kush. Besides which, Comd 16 AAB has to approve first!

2. You will of course noticed that FONA, DAAvn and AOC SH still have administrative control of their repsective capbadges. So it doesn't really matter a fat rats rear end who writes the OJAR..promotion, staff selection and drafts are still done by the respective Service Boards!..so sorry JHC, JHFNI and JSFAW..no control with the yellow sheets!

3. I take it by the definition of a less than 100k strength standing Army, that the junior service are to hence to be known as the Royal Air MilITia aka RAMIT.

4. Who said that 16 AAB is going to get Apache? Not from the SDR 4 and Future Army papers about to hit the streets! Read the tea leaves my boys! Parachute Regt to disband..no airborne role in the new model Army..heavy armour (1 UK Div) relegated to gate guardians..Light rapid deployable forces..the way ahead. 16 AA Bde to be re-designated 24 Airportable Bde and absorbed into the new AM Div by 2012.. all Apache, SABR, Merlin, Chinook and BLUH to become an independent Aviation Attack Brigade under 1 * AAC Command. COMNA to get independent Maritime Helo Force with a SAMR Sqn, a Cobra Z Sqn and a mix of Chinook/Merlin HC1's. JHA disbanded with RAF SH under defence cost saving measures, to bail out Eurofarce 2000.

5. Treasury and SofS Def STILL want to know why RN & RAF have all Officer pilots (and cannot retain them..even after throwing loads of dosh)? when the AAC are 64% NCO (and fully manned). Why 5 Regt AAC can operate 44 aircraft with 350 personnel, but the RAF element of JHFNI has about 1000 for a couple of Puma and a mentally detached Wokka? (Bloody hell, there isnt even Wessi there anymore..and they did all the work!!). Will JHA downsize accordingly now that 72 are off the ORBAT?

6. "...all AAC to come across and get looked after properly by the JHA"....mmm..might have to think about that one. We could not absorb the AAC methinks! If the AAC pilots dont come with their machines..how will the RAF crew them..disband the GR9 Farce..more F3 squadrons into medium preservation...with 200 odd pilots short ..I dont think so.

7. "...slice of the Apache action.." Sorry..already paid for by the Army LTC...next chance for taking control..about 30 years! The RAF will just about be paying off the interest on Merlin by then.

The master plan by the Army and Navy therefore is simple..let the RAF BELIEVE that; the Kings will move across by 2010, that they can afford to take on Apache, that commanding JHA really does make a difference..allowing the CIA to move in and replace them with UAV's whilst the AAC and Fleet get V22's to conduct some REAL air support to the boys up front:p

[A Grey Man]

Muff Dive,

Who is pent up little Staff Officer then? Come on, let it all out.

You are right, but do you really think that is the way it is going to be? I hope so, but alas realistically I fear not.

UK PLC is broke. Full stop......but cancel BLUH and put the money into SABR and stop hand bagging around with this procurement 'jobs for the boy' faff and then we might get somewhere with this Air Manoeuvre thingy mi gingy concept that everyone is talking about but cannot actually afford.

However, I will still take bets.......Joint Helicopter Agency, UK Helicopter Force, Defence Helicopter Force, or even The Helicopter Militia of the British Army........what is in a name hey? To the bean counters what does it matter when the Treasury does not care about operational effectiveness just in short financial term gains.

Oh and as to LTC....well old wisened one I believe that everything is up for grabs after 11 Sep and the 'SDR New Chapter'
It is abrave man that says anything is 'safe'.

:rolleyes:

[Si Clik]

Muff,

You appear to have hit the nail on the head.

I fear the poor Tank boys down at Bulford are in for a nasty surprise, as will anyone who thinks paratroopers are useful in a modern battlefield.

This whole New chapter stuff should be forced well out into the open. So you staff officer's out there, tell it how it is.

We all know big changes are afoot, not least because of the might F**K Up that DLO have made with their new computer and costings.

Let's be radical and cut away the crap (Nimrod MR 4 for a start) and get rid of the 100 or so EFA we haven't got Sqns or pilots for.

If we want to compete with hospitals and teachers (and trains), its the only way we are going to do it!!