Flying a Tornado just above the tree tops at 500 mph is the most exhilarating experience that life has to offer. Playing a three-dimensional game of chess in the sky, where the loser will be on the sharp end of a missile, keeps the fighter pilot's heart pounding. Edging down into a small clearing to drop off special forces in a Chinook makes the difference between a successful hostage rescue and a major disaster. Aircrew in the Royal Air Force today meet daily challenges, whether in training or on operations, which are beyond the imagination of most. The National Audit Office reported earlier this year that the training of a single pilot costs nearly £6 million pounds over the 6 years that it takes. This must be the most expensive professional education in the world.
Such an elite force should have no difficulty in filling its cockpits. Yet never were The Few so few. Sixty years ago, 71 fighter squadrons fought in the Battle of Britain: today there are just 5 air defence squadrons in total. Today the RAF aims to have a total of just 540 pilots to cover all of its combat roles. Even with such a small requirement, it is short of nearly 100 fast jet pilots, and the situation is set to get worse. The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Squire, has gone on the record over the last week to explain some of the difficulties that the RAF faces from underfunding and equipment problems. There is talk of the introduction of large cash bonuses to retain the expensive trained manpower that is draining away to the commercial airlines. Is the RAF in crisis?
While the excitement of military flying remains as great it was in the past, the expectations of young people are very different. The nomad lifestyle of the armed forces and paring away of support over the years has taken its toll. Wives (and most pilots are still men) expect to have a career of their own. They expect to be able to move up the property ladder like everyone else, and not be treated as tenants without rights in married quarters. The new tasks of the last decade in the Gulf, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and East Timor bring repeated periods of separation, which are made worse by manpower shortages. The administrative bureaucracy increases as commanding officers become budget managers in the more cost conscious armed forces. New equipment is delayed for budgetary or technical reasons.
The internet has given aircrew a very public forum to discuss their worries and irritations. In the past this would have happened in the Mess on a Friday night; but now they are more likely to be flying another mission over Northern Iraq. Life is difficult, and it is not helpful to point out times in the past when it was much worse.Nor is it the fault of this Government. The problems, like the demise of military medical services, stem from successive cutbacks in funding over many years. Holding defence spending level now will not be enough to solve the problems across all three services. The RAF of 52,000 people is small, but should be sufficient for the tasks that we ask of it. The joy of flying is as great as ever, but the attractions of civilian lifestyle alternatives grow ever greater. The political and military leadership of today have real problems. Commitments are rising, costs are rising, and expectations are rising. Promises of new equipment sometime in the future are not enough.
For anyone who has a passion for flying, the RAF remains the best career possible. But the signs are that the number of empty cockpits will continue to increase. The Chief of the Air Staff is right to alert a wider public to his problems, but in the end it will need an electorate willing to pay more for Defence.
Air Marshal Sir Timothy Garden is Visiting Professor at the Centre for Defence Studies, King's College, London and a former Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff.