The new Chief of the Air Staff, ACM Sir Rich Knighton, has put out an introduction video.
Nothing much of note though. A few generic soundbites and no mention of RAFAC:
The new Chief of the Air Staff, ACM Sir Rich Knighton, has put out an introduction video.
Nothing much of note though. A few generic soundbites and no mention of RAFAC:
Transcript if itās easier for some people:
"It is a great honour for me to be speaking to you today as the new Chief of the Air Staff. I want to start by offering my sincere thanks to Sir Mike Wigston, for his leadership and friendship during the unprecedented domestic and world events that characterised his time as CAS.
As the Prime Minister has said, the world we live in is more volatile and contested than at any time in recent history. We have seen in Ukraine what happens when you canāt achieve air superiority. We have also seen there how the rapid development and use of new technology is changing how we deliver air and space power. Itās clear to me that the operational challenges are greater than we have faced for decades.
The RAF needs to be ready to fly and fight ā that is fundamentally why we exist. What we do is vital for the country, for our families and for those we fight alongside in the other services. All of us have a part to play ā whether Regular, Reserve, Civil Servant or Contractor.
The RAF today has the most modern and capable equipment in its history. Thereās still more to come, but success depends on having the people and infrastructure we need to get the most out of it.
That is why my 3 top priorities are:
ā¢ Our operational focus and mindset
ā¢ Our people
ā¢ And our infrastructure
We must focus on being ready to fly and fight, and get the most out of the kit weāve got.
We need to make sure we recruit, train and, most importantly, retain the people we need.
And we must continue to invest more to improve how we live and work.
For more than 100 years, the Royal Air Force has had a noble and vital purpose: protecting our country, our interests and our people from the air. This is more important than it has been for many years. I am very much looking forward to working with you, supporting you and listening to your ideas over the next few years. Thank you."
Heās talking about getting the force back to considering themselves as warfighters. It would have been extremely odd if he had mentioned RAFAC in that context.
Have his predecessors done so?
Just trying to understanding if heās maintaining a theme or bucking the trend
No idea, just stating the facts of this video. I think some may have misunderstood me to be providing opinion.
Iām sure the next CACās opening address will mention cadets more and war fighting less.
The only war fighting CAC has to worry about is the war against memes. I think memes are winning!
There is a nice mention of RAFAC in the outgoing CASā interview with the RAF podcast Inside Air
He could have said: āWe have seen in Ukraine what happens when you practice Unilateral Nuclear Disarmament.ā The Chief is right: the situation we face is more dangerous to us than when we faced the Warsaw Pact. Now we actually are at war with Russia, with the Ukrainians doing all the fighting, killing and dying for us. In the Cold War we had heavily armed dĆ©tente: now we have war with a wealthy and powerful country on a economic Total War footing, with the UK Armed Forces half the size they were in the gold old bad old days.
āYes, but our equipment has greater lethality.ā So does the war materiel of our enemies, and they have more of it.
On a more trivial noteā¦I saw this on Forces Net, and ACM Knightonās No1 uniform was a bit light on the LH sideā¦a 30 year RAF GSM and all three QJMs - he obviously hasnāt served on the green side of the RAF, such as the Support Helicopter Force, Tornado bomber or RAF Regiment squadrons. Still, General Eisenhower didnāt serve in France in WWI, unlike his contemporaries such as Bradley, Patton and Truman, but he was the man for the job of Supreme Allied Commander in WWII.
Does that mean we are going back* to being the ADCC? Unfortunately the RAF has a lot fewer airbases these days, so thereās nowhere for most Air Cadets to serve in time of war as child soldiers.
*ā¦or rebranded, or re-rebranded, which sounds painful (visions of āJarheadā)
New CAS has spent the last 15 years in whitehall helping to run the MOD. This is where CAS āfightsā their battles and will be much more useful experience as the CEO of the RAF compared to doing COIN in Afghan. All ops are run via PJHQ not by the service chiefs. IIRC he was a harrier sengo but that was a long time ago
Fair enough: I spent barely three years out of 23 on operational tours myself, but with enough variety to claim several gongs for the time I spent on each one. NCOs often serve on training units in between operational ones, and also on garrison duties like the old RAF(G) or BAOR. Commissioned officers tend to do similar gigs, as well as various NATO/HQ/foreign exchange type postings as they gain seniority.
I vaguely remember doing Harrier Force exercises out of RAF Laarbruch in the early 1990s, until they started being cancelled from lack of interest by all concerned in them.
From the RAF site.
" He spent his early career in frontline roles working on Nimrod Maritime Patrol Aircraft, Tornado and in several roles within the Harrier force."
Not exactly a resounding credit thatā¦
Far more about the Nimrod happened and far above JENGO level which I suspect he was at, at the time.