Tim Ripley
As British government ministers make their final assessment of the bids in the United Kingdom's beyond visual range air-to-air missile and future strategic airlift contest, the senior RAF officer attending Asian Aerospace has stressed that a quick decision is "crucial".
Air Vice Marshal Jock Stirrup, assistant chief of the UK's air staff, described the two programmes as crucial for the RAF. "They are very complex decisions; a large number of factors need to be taken into account - the Ministry of Defence's Equipment Advisory Committee meeting this week is just one stage."
Press reports in the UK that Air Marshal Sir Richard Johns, Britain's senior airman, had threatened to resign if the airlift decision went against the Boeing C-17 Globemaster, were dismissed by Stirrup as "complete and utter nonsense".
"There is no question about the CAS resigning - heaven knows where they got that from.
"For a start the RAF does not decide on the UK's equipment programme. It is a central ministry decision.
"The future strategic airlifter is not an RAF capability - it is a defence capability, to allow us to deploy defence forces around the world. It involves defence as a whole.
"We must address it as quickly as possible."
Lessons learned in Kosovo reinforced the view of the Strategic Defence Review that strategic lift is a crucial issue.
Stirrup leads the UK's military delegation to Asian Aerospace, of which the most prominent feature is the British Aereospace Nimrod MR2 maritime patrol aircraft on the static park. The aircraft, of the RAF's 42(R) Squadron, flew away from snow storms at RAF Kinloss in Scotland last week to headline at Singapore.
"We have strong links with people in the region, old friends," says Stirrup. "The show is very important from both an aerospace and defence point of view. There are important air forces and people in this region so it is important to maintain links."
Source: Flight Daily News
