The UK's ability to train fast jet pilots is in crisis because of faulty aircraft, a need for more instructors and an influx of foreign students filling up the course, leaked documents suggest
A serving officer with knowledge of the training pipeline said:"At the moment, it's the biggest f*** up in the RAF."
The source said a senior group of RAF officers meet three or four times a year to consider all training issues. The RAF source said a lot of effort is being made to ensure those waiting are not wasting their time working a photocopier.The source offered examples of some officers being sent on Russian or Arabic language courses and others learning how to be an air traffic controller. This"gives everybody professional qualifications that are wider than those ones they were expecting."
The defence sources said today's training woes can be traced back to the end of the Cold War, when successive governments sought to cut defence spending, cashing in on a so-called"peace dividend" and the false hope that Russia would no longer pose a threat. It is required to train a set number of recruits in different specialisms, including fast jets, multi-engines - such as spy planes and transport aircraft - and helicopters.
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