Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Wigston’s comments to Sky News, attempting to defend the indefensible Woke policies that he is championing within the Royal Air Force, are full of misinformation. These comments and progressive policies do not reflect any intent to prioritize Warfighting expertise and capability within that Service and therefore must be seen as being detrimental to our continued national security.
Wigston: ‘There has been “no drop in operational standards”.’
Really? To what operational standards is he referring? Do these include:
The dubious management of the 107 strong Typhoon fleet of fighter aircraft that has resulted in approximately just 30% of airframes being available for front line combat operations. A sad figure which mirrors the limited availability of the previous Tornado GR4 – with only 28 of the 130 ground attack aircraft being available for front line operations in Afghanistan. This represents not “a drop in operational standards” but “the maintenance of a disgracefully poor operational capability”.
The low availability of fully trained fighter pilots for front line squadrons. The RAF flying training system is in complete disarray and has been so for decades. Whilst buying hundreds of fighter and fighter bomber aircraft at huge expense (and without proper justification or accountability), the RAF High Command has failed to plan for appropriate flying training resources that are needed for the supply of frontline aircrew. The direct result of this is a significant drop in UK’s operational air defence capability. Whereas this may be not so critical with regard to land-based air resources, it is of great significance when one considers the poor manner in which the RAF has failed to anticipate and to supply the strategically important air assets for embarkation in our 2 new carriers. This failure represents a serious shortfall in UK’s operational capability.
“We will continue to protect the nation, we will secure our skies and patrol our seas”.
One must ask, “With what?” This thoroughly disingenuous remark ignores the complete lack of capability of land-based tactical air to support Maritime Expeditionary Force Operations such as the Falklands war. It is now 40 years on since the RAF failed to secure our skies over that sovereign territory and failed to provide air defence of the Fleet en route to and within that combat theatre. Since that time nothing has changed – except for the lunatic decision by our Ministry of Defence to give Administrative and Operational control of our carrier borne fighter aircraft to the RAF. This means that our fleet of F-35B fighter aircraft can only embark in our carriers for offshore operations at the behest of the Royal Air Force. The current deployment of HMS Queen Elizabeth to the East Coast of the United States for trials without any UK F-35B fighters embarked (i.e. with empty flight decks) is a clear example of the RAF being unwilling to support the needs of our strategically capable Fleet.
“Patrolling our seas” is and always has been the job of the Royal Navy and its Fleet Air Arm. It requires global reach in order to deter those that would harm our interests. Wigston and our Ministry of Defence need to recognize this formally and to change tack from expensive canoodling with British Aerospace Systems on projects such as the Tempest program, which have little if any relevance to the UK’s Strategic Maritime Policy.
Our Armed Forces are primarily there to provide the UK with a global Warfighting capability that deters our enemies and provides robust support to our Allies. Recruits who wish to serve King and country must be selected on aptitude, talent and latent operational capability. Affirmative action regarding gender and ethnicity that sets aside these 3 qualities will only reduce the capability of our Armed Forces to answer the call when in a time of need.
It is interesting to note that the French are planning to replace the Charles de Gaulle, with a new carrier in 2038, that will be large enough to operate the EU’s equivalent of Tempest, the Future Combat Air System (FCAS). Thus again they are repeating what they did with Rafale, i.e. producing an aircraft that can be used by both their navy and their air force. It is time that our MOD looked across the channel and took a leaf out of their book.
It is interesting to note that the French are planning to replace the Charles de Gaulle, with a new carrier in 2038, that will be large enough to operate the EU’s equivalent of Tempest, the Future Combat Air System (FCAS). Thus again they are repeating what they did with Rafale, i.e. producing an aircraft that can be used by both their navy and their air force. It is time that our MOD looked across the channel and took a leaf out of their book.