For a former great power still trying to flex its military muscles around the world, the United Kingdom is woefully unprepared, with an Army that has ‘shrunk to its smallest size since the Napoleonic Wars’.
With only around 73,000 troops and – believe it or not – only 40 combat-ready battle tanks, it turns out that the shortcomings are also plaguing the Royal Air Force (RAF), that is facing a pilot shortage after a diversity hiring scheme unsurprisingly backfired.
An internal document has revealed that the RAF needs a much higher number of pilots for training.
The Telegraph reported:
“The Air Force is so short-staffed that candidates who were previously rejected are being urged to reapply, as well as older applicants who have experience in ‘flying-related roles’.
The pleas come as Sir Keir Starmer reiterated the UK’s willingness to put ‘boots on the ground and planes in the air’ to help Ukraine secure a peace deal.”
Unpopular Labour PM Keir Starmer, following the European defense craze, a boost in military spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027.
“The RAF now needs a ‘higher number of pilots in training’, according to a document seen by the Daily Mail. Air chiefs want the gaps filled by those who may have previously been rejected.
[…] Mark Francois, the [Conservative] shadow Armed Forces minister, told the paper: ‘The RAF’s availability of combat pilots has been hit by a perfect storm: including woke manipulation of recruiting practices, the revival of civilian airlines post-Covid and technical issues with training aircraft, particularly engine reliability on the Hawk T2. All this really matters. If we are now going to see ‘jets in the sky’ defending any Ukrainian peace deal, then we need enough trained pilots to fly them.”
Absolutely no-one is surprised that the diversity drive led to a shortage of qualified personnel. It was, of course, found to be unlawful to white male would-be recruits.
The air force’s commitment to having 40 percent women and 20 percent of personnel from ethnic minorities by 2030 is, of course, unattainable.
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