What is it?!
I did see a video with the old commandant talking about it built he never really described what it was!
Any linkies??
It’s the future, apparently.
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It’s the RAF’s big change programme. There is a page for the RAFAC bits somewhere on BADER, but I can’t remember where.
Given “per ardua ad astra” - I’d say it’s probably something incredibly challenging that leads to the end of us.
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ACP 7 is the directive from AOC 22 on what RAFAC Astra is.
I’ve done some work with people in the wing over the past 12/18months about project Astra
Ironically, one of the main challenges with Project ASTRA is that it is a misnomer. It’s not a series of checklists or tasks, it’s a vision, a cultural shift, a new way of doing things. On the other hand, there is a great deal of jargon associated with it that can discourage people. Below is what a fair few wings were working on to help “simplify” the understanding of what astra is and how it should be impacting people on the ground.
(Not that I think we’ve managed it yet but I do agree with where they are trying to get to!)
Why - The Bad
- Adopted because previous change programs failed to inspire CFAVs
- Disconnection from the Senior Leadership
- Bureaucratic red tape
- A Culture of no, sapping enthusiasm from the CFAVS
- Endless strategic reviews, stream analyses, and steering committees - all delivered little value to the Sqns
Why - The Good
- Get back to an enthusiastic culture of “Yes, let’s get on with it”
- Underpinned by Trust
- Trust that we are safe, compliant, and maximising the effective use of resources
What Astra is not
- A money saving exercise
- All drones, VRs and fancy gear
- Star Trek Uniforms
- Killing off activities such as shooting, fieldcraft, AT and sport
ASTRA Principles
- Team is Everything
- Spread good vibes
- Challenge and be bold
- Small changes add up
- Build a future
- Drive Sustainability
What ASTRA says CFAV’s can do to help:
- Believe that this change is possible
- Role model the ASTRA principles
- Submit storyboards and drive projects forward (So your working groups!)
And one of their big ones was how to make the volunteers enable and go straight to HQAC they created a hub: Sign in to your account , CFAVS can comment on ideas that HQAC are currently looking at, put ideas forward, see whether it’s been recommended to go forward.
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Considering this has happened/happening then astra has failed either as an unintended consequence of its actions or something it has failed to prevent.
Unfortunately the Astra brand is now toxic & due to this perception can no longer deliver the change it envisioned or aspired to do so.
As an aside Astra means “star” so basically a big ball of hot gas that pulls everything into its orbit where it is incinerated releasing more gas & getting everyone hot & bothered.
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The reality is, Astra is a completely meaningless concept, so it’s become a joke.
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A concept that could work, if only there were enough resources to take the ideas forward 
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Small correction there…
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Everything I read about Astra was nebulous and so drowned in corporate waffle as to be utterly meaningless
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I’m surprised to see it still going. Usually a new CAS starts a new initiative and the old one is thrown out. Who remembers blue sky thinking or the red tape challenge? Or are RAFAC like the Japanese soldiers in the jungle, still fighting on regardless?
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Definitely - grasp the latest idea to suck up & dont let it go until confirmed dead
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i was under the impression “ASTRA” is an RAF campaign rather than RAFAC one and so not up to the CAC to choose to adopt it or not. As it has an impact on our parent service which will have trickle down impact on us the organasation needs to plan for it by following an “ASTRA” mentality now to show we (RAFAC) are making “ASTRA” changes
You’re right, though it wasn’t designed for us.
There’s some history around it as RAFAC was omitted from the first steps of the Astra project (there’s a thread here somewhere)
We then went down the ‘Astra leads’ path and IIRC were re-examining activities and introducing the ‘air space & cyber’ tagline, at the same time as other policy changes and resource constraints which lead to the view that Astra was a vehicle for cuts.
True or not it’s the perception among a lot of people I speak to. Be interested to know if you’re hearing similar where you are.
this is sounding very familiar now.
on the basis the RAFAC is a youth organisation to gain “the RAF experience” (without the going to war element) then if the RAF changes focus (ie space and cyber) then the RAFAC needs to follow suit - we cannot rely on our parent service to support activity X, Y and Z, if the RAF is not doing it itself
As an obvious example where this has already happened would be aircraft recognition - this once would have been a “bread and butter” skill the RAF needed but is less prominent in today’s world of warfare which is moving to digital threats (cyber).
ASTRA for the RAFAC was an attempt to bring us “up to date” with what the RAF is dealing with today, and bin off some of the crusty old topics and learning which has moved on since the cold war or earlier
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This ‘Stupid Question alert’ seems to have struck a cord with people and once again shows there are no stupid questions (by and large).
Alas ASTRA as a concept was fairly sound - but coupled with the fact that it’s associated with AC Keeling probably didn’t help and it could easily be a great epitaph for him as it’s full of twaddle and piffle, to the extent where people struggled to understand the concepts and really what it was about.
I do sense the supertanker / juggernaugt that is the RAFAC is changing but finding I needed to manually add my Climatic Injury Training again to SMS as Learn doesn’t pull information across just goes to show some of the level of red tape we struggle thru that’s unecessary.
In so many ways BADER is a useful tool and in other ways it’s like the real Bader. - a pain in the Arsenal and not quite as well liked and as useful as it should be. Systems like this (and ASTRA getting back on topic) should be a clear, verbose and useable or tools / idea’s or templates to follow, not shy away from…….
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You 100% no longer need to do this, and both Heat & Cold are now reported on separately and the central reporting available to PS & Sqn Cdrs via the relevant portals pulls down the eLearning.
It can take ~ 30 mins for successful course completion to display on the dashboard in Volunteer Portal.
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Sir - whilst you may well be correct we have some eager beavers who if they are running activities will check up to ensure that the staff on events are 100% covered and if all the relevant ticks are not in all the boxes and dates are verifiable then they can get somewhat techy that the staff have not completed (and have) the necessary displayed and I can’t say I blame them, as it’s not always given the emphasis it should have.
Hence my beef on this occasion - it’s not the fact that it’s not reported on its that internal data transfer of BADER that’s the issue to my mind.
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Project ASTRA…It is a way of “slashing and burning” activities, whilst sounding like something fantastic and exciting to the unknowing.
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