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Friday, December 19, 2008

Ex-Defence chief in call to cut new aircraft carrier order down to one


Computer Generated Imagery of the UK's Future Aircraft Carriers (CVF)

The UK should consider cutting its order for new aircraft carriers from two to one because of pilot shortages, a former armed forces head said today.

Marshal of the RAF Lord Craig of Radley, chief of the defence staff at the time of the first Gulf War, said the Defence Ministry's autumn performance report showed "shortfalls approaching 49% of junior Fleet Air Arm harrier pilots and over 57% of experienced RAF harrier instructors".

Lord Craig asked at Lords question time: "Will this not seriously jeopardise the Fleet Air Arm's ability to provide the fast jet command and leadership required to operate their full fleet of F-35s in the coming decade.

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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous19/12/08 18:21

    I would think that a projected shortage of pilots would be the easiest thing to fix in the program. But the real issue is that Britain cannot afford two carrier groups and two wars with the current budget and the financial problems will only get worse over the next three years.

    And this leads to the F-35 decision in the spring: it's an obvious target for budget-cutters at a time when the MoD is putting fire-sale prices on brand-new Typhoons.

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