The way things are going, are we not hastening towards a very Single service?

Question ...

I note that a few Station Commanders, Odiam and Lossie to name two, are now Tweeting ... will the new CAS be tempted to Twitter ? Perhaps the next time he's lurking on PPRuNe he might let us know his thoughts on such matters :confused:

Only if we're nice to him. Anyway, how do you know he isn't already?

Courtney ... Most of us on PPRuNe are nice fellows :ok:

And yes I'm sure all the Top Team pop by in stealth mode from time to time :ok:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-senior-military-officers-appointed

Well as long as they aren’t being made redundant. Bad timing I feel.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/t...cies-announced

Way to go, Pulfs... :ok:

Don't forget there is also Harps as well as Timmo... So there are a couple of Sir three-stars in the wings (TBD).

Pre-Meteor
 

I think you will find that every CAS before the Meteor was non-FJ. This is great appointment and I win my bet from when I worked for him as AOC2.:):ok:

A good man, the RAF will do ok with him at the helm.

I believe he likes to holiday at Butlins........ ask him!

Again the whisperings I hear are very different from you, Bismark. Apparently Cameron was very impressed by the RAF performance in Ellamy from fast air to ISTAR and C2 and much in between.

Bet you can't believe your luck that Mali is landlocked - still I'm sure it won't stop the irrepressible RN PR machine.

It will be General Sir Nick Houghton for the top job. As a member of the esteemed brown jobs, I can honestly say that Wall does NOT have the confidence of the wider Army and I have been very critical of him on another website. The fact that the heads of both the RAF and RNa re helicopter pilots is thoroughly good news because (i) it should stop the ridiculous turf wars and (ii) it recognises that rotary assets are critical to our current and future military operations.

I think you make a good point there, Scopie. The only thing that worries me is, since when did not having the backing of the chaps ever stop anyone from being promoted. I'm sure I don't need to offer examples here.

A better statement would be 'he is the first rotary CAS'. Back in the day it was bomber pilots who had a stranglehold on the top job, and in no way can you equate a Lancaster with a FJ! The last non-FJ CAS was Sir Michael Beetham (1977-82), who was a Lancaster and Valiant pilot. Admittedly that's quite a while ago, so a change was definitely due.

Got to agree with earlier comments about the SH force; if we're out of Afghanistan before SDSR-2, as expected, then it will be interesting to see how much effort Pulford puts into defending his old patch. SH will look ripe for culling, and there will be knives out for FJ as usual. Who knows where he will focus?

Hopefully the results of Timo and Garwood's inter-service warfare will put our airships off such antics in future. An unmitigated failure both for them and the Service. And that applies to those on the other side of the argument as well... time to kill off some single-service dinos...

I would observe that Cameron was reportedly forced into keeping the carriers because the contracts had been so comprehensively stitched-up by the Brown government and BAES (doubtless with the connivance of the Naval staff) that it was impossible to cancel them. Hardly the way to get off to a good start with the new PM. Ditto the way the RN got caught fudging the funding of its slew of one-way exchanges with the USN. Don't talk to me about trust.

That's a great line to hang out there without any back-up. If you're referring to F35C, well, the RN wanted it too, if their eagerness for those USN F18 slots was anything to go by. If it's Harrier vs Tornado, the continued good performance of the latter in HERRICK and its star turn in ELLAMY put that one to bed a while ago (although I accept that some fanatics will never acknowledge that). What else are you referring to? :confused:

Really........
 

Courtney Mil,

Are you so naive to suggest the RN will not get CVF, open your eyes.

:ugh:

Regards FNS

Naive? I'm well known for it around here. My concern is that nothing is given at the moment. Not getting the platform at all would be a disaster, hopefully highly unlikely. I also worry about what configuration it will end up in and whether we have any fast air operating from it; for a long time at least.

But that's massive thread drift. My point is which colour Dave C might not favour given his possible "difficult choices" yet to come.

Which Dave C do you mean Courtney?

The lightweight but massively expensive one with the larger spread, the heavier bottom and undercarriage, which cannot hook onto anything with any certainty and which certainly cannot shoot straight unless it has help bolted on; or the CATOBAR version of the F-35 destined for the USN?

:E

Good one, Finnpog. I walked right into that.

Easy, it is widely recognised that Stirrup stitched up the RN and FAA in the final moments (literally) of SDSR - Cameron realised this later. The announcement re the Ferguson study are a direct result of all this.

The damage done to the RAF by Anderson et al will be felt for years to come as no one trusts the top of the RAF to tell the truth.

Ellamy was a huge success for the RAF but had nothing to do with those at the top.

The "fudge" by the RN re F18 was supported by both MoD and the Treasury. The FAA had to get the FW stream out of the hands of 22 Gp and the USN wanted to ensure the survival of proper Naval aviators as they were horrified by the RAF attitude to embarked ops (ie minimal exposure, hop on hop off). Again I refer you back to the Ferguson report.

I am very Joint in disposition but have totally lost faith in the RAF as a cooperative organisation.

Sad really ... money and politics (small p ... and large P) are the root of all evil ... even in the Services :(

... and remind me again in whose constituency (or very near) the carriers are being built ..... :rolleyes:

But a suitably Joint BZ for Pull-through, who is a very good bloke IMHO. :ok:

... who is likely to be staying in Brussels for another 3 years.