Time For The Red Arrows To Be Put Out To Grass?

           

If reports in the media are to believed, it appears that The Royal Air Force’s “iconic” Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, popularly known as the Red Arrows, may be running out of aircraft to fly.

Formed in the mid-1960s, their purpose is officially stated to include showcasing the RAF, supporting British industry and “defence diplomacy”, and aiding RAF recruitment.

It is not clear how the Arrows’ success or otherwise in the fields is calculated or monitored, but we must assume that there are some mechanisms in place to measure their worth. I am not aware of any, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Be that as it may be, it now transpires that the aircraft they fly, the BAE Systems Hawk T1 trainer, are coming to the end of their useful lives. Out of an original 26 working airframes available the Arrows at the beginning of this year, the number is now available is reported to be down to 17 today, and engineers are said to be cannibalising older aircraft in a bid to keep the best planes flying.

In any case, the Hawk T1 is clearly near the end of the road and will, if the Red Arrows are to continue, need to be replaced by something more modern. Which begs two questions; are the Red Arrows really necessary or a luxury we can no longer afford given the dire straits on defence finances? And two; if the Red Arrows are to continue, what aircraft should they fly?

To answer the first question we have to briefly refer to the recently published Strategic Defence Review. Without going into too much detail, the overall message from the Review is that money is tight but there might be some light at the end of the tunnel by the mid 2030s. Any increase in funding in the short term will barely fill the capability holes that already exist.

For the RAF the Review highlighted the lack of frontline fast jets and the pilots to fly them, and most commentators agree that the emphasis needs to be in upping the numbers of Typhoon and F-35B aircraft to meet the renewed threat from eastern Europe and streamlining and optimising the fast jet pilot training system.

Against this background, the question needs to be asked as to whether the Arrows continue to be the best use of limited resources, in the short to medium term at least. Could their dozen or so pilots and roughly 100 ground crew be better employed in operational squadrons that are more relevant to the defence of the realm? Unless there is direct proof that their displays attract an increase in would-be RAF pilot applicants then the answer to that one might be yes.

Being part of the whole ‘Cool Britannia’ shtick and an excellent PR vehicle might not be sufficient to justify their existence in these more dangerous and demanding times.

Let that be food for thought. The second question, which aircraft they might fly if they continue and the Hawk T1 eventually has to be retired, also throws up some interesting questions. Various options have been suggested, one of which, the Aermacchi M-346, looks like an almost one-for-one substitute. A design which entered service some 30 years after the Hawk, it has very similar attributes – roughly the same speed, height ceiling, manoeuvrability, and most importantly cost.

No surprise, then, that the Aermacchi is a serious contender. The problem, though, is that it is a joint Russian-Italian design, and the thought of anything with links to Putin’s regime equipping the RAF is anathema to many. There has been much huffing and puffing from the leather armchairs in service clubs across London, and politicians as diverse as Mark Francois and Nigel Farage have been quick to say that the very idea is preposterous.

We’ll see how this one pans out in due course. But the important question remains; are the Red Arrows a luxury which the RAF, the Ministry of Defence, and the country can no longer afford? Painting red, white, and blue smoke trails across the skies is all very nice, but does it represent value for taxpayers’ money?

My view is that it does not, and in the current circumstances the Arrows are very much a ‘nice to have’ but not essential. Accordingly consideration should be carefully given to disbanding them, if only temporarily until the good times return (if they ever do that is).

And finally, just in case anyone says an ex-soldier would say that, wouldn’t he, I have not dissimilar opinions on the use of regular British army battalions for ceremonial duties. Those, however, will have to wait for another time.

 

Lt Col Stuart Crawford is a defence analyst and former army officer. Sign up for his podcasts and newsletters at www.DefenceReview.uk

 

 

Lt Col Stuart Crawford’s latest book Tank Commander (Hardback) is available now

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