RAF stretched to limit, air chief warns

Steyr

Exclusive: Air Chief Marshal says it can cope with planned six months in Libya but extra cash required in 2014-15 review


Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/apr/03/raf-budget-defence-dalton-libya


The head of the RAF has issued a blunt warning that the service will need "genuine increases" in its budget over the coming years if it is to continue running the range of operations ministers demand.

In an interview with the Guardian, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton said he was trying to protect the core of the RAF during a turbulent period of spending cuts and redundancies, but insisted ministers would have to sanction proper reinvestment.

With the RAF playing an important role in Libya, where bombers, fighter jets and surveillance aircraft have all been involved over the past fortnight, he admitted the service was now stretched to the limit.

Dalton, 57, said the RAF was planning to continue operations over Libya for at least six months. His assumption is that planes will be needed "for a number of months rather than a number of days or weeks".

His warning comes amid renewed signs that key figures in Muammar Gaddafi's regime are seeking an end to the crisis. The country's deputy foreign minister, Abdul Ati al-Obeidi, flew to Greece on Sunday using the same route out of Libya as his former boss, Moussa Koussa. It was suggested he was in Athens to bring new proposals for a ceasefire or discuss the terms of Gaddafi's departure.

Even as the Libyan conflict continues, the financial difficulties faced by all three British armed services will be underlined on Monday when the army and the Royal Navy set out their redundancy programmes, despite calls from former service chiefs and Labour that the schemes should be shelved because of ongoing operations in north Africa and Afghanistan.

Dalton accepted the need for reform, but made clear that the RAF would need an "uplift" in spending.

"The key factor is that if we are to meet the requirements laid upon us, there is no question that more investment will be needed to achieve that. What I am seeking to do is maintain core competencies and bricks on which we can then build the future."

Dalton said extra cash was needed long before 2020, which is the target set by government for a wholesale revamping of UK defence strategy, and he claimed prime minister David Cameron had acknowledged this requirement.

"It needs to happen from the next comprehensive spending review, 2014-15. If at that point the economy has recovered as the government is predicting it should, they can then start to reinvest in some of the future capabilities we will need," said Dalton.

Without "genuine increases", the RAF would find it "very difficult to maintain levels of capability".

"On current planning, we can continue in Afghanistan, the Falklands and Libya with what we have got. But that does bring you nearer the point that you have just about exhausted the bag. It's a heck of a lot to be doing at one time," Dalton said.

The first of the service chiefs to speak out about the current funding crisis, Dalton dismissed outright any suggestion that the RAF might be merged with the army or the navy to save money and said it was inconceivable that the RAF would ever want to scale back and lose its global reach.

He also acknowledged that morale had been affected by a massive reduction in the Ministry of Defence's budget – 8% in real terms.

"People do feel concerned. Of course they feel concerned, they have a professional pride in what they do. They don't join the RAF as if they are joining a bank or an insurance company. They join the RAF because they want to be part of something that does something much bigger and better and, most importantly, has some meaning and value for everyone," Dalton said.

"So of course they are concerned. The world has become a very much more unstable place and again we have seen that in the last few days.

"They also think there is a need to make sure the government, the public, understands what they do, and understands that they are prepared to do these things provided what they do is recognised."

Dalton was appointed chief of the air staff in July 2009 and is overseeing one of the most radical overhauls in the history of the service. In last year's strategic defence and security review, ministers set out proposals to cut 17,000 jobs from the armed forces – 7,000 from the army and 5,000 each from the RAF and the navy.

The MoD believes a 6,000 cut can be achieved by not replacing people who have left, but that still leaves another 11,000 jobs to axe.

The RAF set out its redundancy programme last month. It is to close its base at Kinloss in Scotland and withdraw two squadrons of Tornados in the summer.

The remains of the Tornado fleet was thought to be vulnerable as the MoD has a £1bn overspend to cover from last year's budget alone. But it is now assumed that the Treasury would not dare push for the rapid withdrawal of the ground attack aircraft because they have been so instrumental in the campaign against Gaddafi. Eight Tornados and 10 Typhoons are currently in Italy, helping to secure the no-fly zone.

Dalton said the Nimrod R1, which was due to be scrapped, had been reprieved for as long as it was needed in Libya.

LondonIrish90

We are all but completely scrapping our eyes and ears in the sky over the coming months. :rolleyes:

Complete morons making these sorts of decisions with absolutely no understanding of where the cuts need to be made.

OS119

LondonIrish90 wrote: »

We are all but completely scrapping our eyes and ears in the sky over the coming months. :rolleyes:

Complete morons making these sorts of decisions with absolutely no understanding of where the cuts need to be made.

interesting, isn't it, that the three RAF platorms most useful in the Libya Op are Tornado GR4, Sential R1 and Nimrod R1 - all schedualed for the chop, and in Nimrod R1's case actually brought back from the chop specifically for the Libya job.

bloody frightening.

Steyr

OS119 wrote: »

Tornado GR4

Only under 4 years left on the GR4 as that retirement was rumoured in 2010.

OS119

Steyr wrote: »

Only under 4 years left on the GR4 as that retirement was rumoured in 2010.

GR4 was, assuming the RAF wasn't going to get 240 Typhoons with most at T3 capability, going to soldier on until JSF came along. SDSR screwed that over, and then the MOD started some speculation that because it had even less money than SDSR said it had, that even the pitiful Tornado force left after SDSR was going to get culled.

not absolutely sure if that will come about now, Call Me Dave is facing some very awkward questions from within his own government about why defence spending doesn't meet defence tasking - personally i can see a fudge, a faster than predicted Afghan withdrawl allowing a cull of the Army, and the RAF getting some additional, but quiet, funding to keep Tornado GR4, Sentinal and the two Nimrod R1's until Rivet Joint comes on stream.

hmmm

The problem of course is the vast moneypit of Typhoons.

What the Brits should have done was bought a 100 of them, and spent the rest of the money on a Predator equivalent or possibly a simple ground attack aircraft such as a new version of the A-10 or even an OV-10.

The conflicts that Britain has taken part in for the past few decades have not demanded an all singing all dancing 4th generation air superiority fighter, they have demanded a short air suppression war followed by long and boring relatively unopposed air to ground engagements. An unsophisticated, cheap to fly aircraft that can lift a heavy load of A2G weapons is what is required - in a networked battlefield you might even be able to drop most radars and rely on Sentinels and the like to supply the information.

Even the purchase of the F-35 sounds like largely a waste of money.

OS119

hmmm wrote: »

The problem of course is the vast moneypit of Typhoons.

What the Brits should have done was bought a 100 of them, and spent the rest of the money on a Predator equivalent or possibly a simple ground attack aircraft such as a new version of the A-10 or even an OV-10....


...Even the purchase of the F-35 sounds like largely a waste of money.

the problem with that rationale is that it may fit A'stan and Libya, it didn't fit the circumstances when the big Typhoon decisions were being made, and it may not fit the circumstances that the RAF faces in 2035 when all of these aircraft would still be in service.

F-35 is an overspend when its doing racetracks at 10,000ft over Helmand and it could be 600ft across and painted bright pink and the Taliban still couldn't hit it, but A-10 and OV-10 would be a catastrophic disaster in 2020 when every man and his dog has an S-300 series SAM system, or Argentina persuades friend Chavez and his SU-30's that he wants to cement South American political hegemony with a successful attack on the Falklands.

F-35 particularly is likely to be in RAF service until 2060 at least, and Typhoon until 2035-40 - quite simply if they are to be plausable aircraft then, they need to be outstanding when they enter service.

Steyr

hmmm wrote: »

and spent the rest of the money on a Predator equivalent or possibly a simple ground attack aircraft such as a new version of the A-10 or even an OV-10.

IIRC The A-10 is not produced anymore and is not on sale, it's sole owner is the USAF.

Would you really suggest a Bronco?

goldie fish

There is a suggestion that the Bronco may be seen aboard the new Australian LPD.