Britain’s security has been put “at risk” because of a helicopter pilot training crisis within the Armed Forces, a former head of the Army has said.
The Telegraph understands that a tranche of new trainee pilots across all three forces are unable to learn how to fly helicopters because the aircrafts remain unavailable.
RAF Shawbury, which provides the flying training school for all helicopter crew from the Air Force, Navy and Army, has stopped a significant number of flying lessons because there is a lack of engineers to maintain the aircrafts.
Ministry of Defence (MoD) sources acknowledged that there has been a “reduction” in flying training at the base.
A defence source aware of the problem at RAF Shawbury told The Telegraph: “What it’s done is upset the training pipeline for a whole group of people.
“It means they are now not learning to fly and while it doesn’t have an instant impact, it will do in due course when the military doesn’t have new pilots to bring through to the squadron.”
They added: “If you don’t complete at Shawbury then you will always have a lack of pilots going through the system.”
Lord Dannatt, a former head of the Army, said: “Underfunding training like this is just increasing the risk to our Armed Forces and the security of Europe.
“With all that’s going on in the world and Ukraine, it is really important that our front-line capabilities are maintained to the highest possible level so that we are able to deter future aggression.
“If Russia is unwise enough to attack another Nato country we need to be best placed to respond.”
‘Adverse effect over time’
He added: “This will obviously have an adverse effect over time on capability and individuals who will be very frustrated that the training they were expected to be given has been paused.
“It is important to keep a smooth throughput of pilot training to ensure the front line of the Army, Navy and Air Force is all maintained.”
Lord Dannatt’s concerns were echoed by Lord West, the former First Sea Lord, who pointed to recent hold-ups at RAF Valley where fast jet recruits suffered years-long delays in learning how to fly the Hawk T2.
Lord West said: “The UK’s Military Flying Training System has been found to fail on a number of occasions in the past. You have to keep a flow through of trainees or it becomes a vicious circle because people will leave. It’s symptomatic of totally hollowed out Armed Forces.”
He urged the issue of underfunding be resolved in the upcoming Autumn Budget, and that it be further discussed in the MoD’s Strategic Defence Review, which was launched earlier this year.
“Defence needs more money, no one is in doubt of this,” Lord West said. “If stopping a world war is the top priority of a Government then you can always find money.”
The Government is yet to confirm whether it will raise defence spending to 2.5 per cent from its current level of 2.3 per cent.
A senior RAF source insisted that there was “no risk to national security” as a result of the delay in training helicopter pilots.
However, Sir Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, called on Labour to increase defence spending in the Oct 30 budget in order to better protect the nation’s security.
He said: “People should be under no illusion that unless Rachel Reeves stands at the Dispatch Box and commits to a date of spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence, and increases this spending this year, and next year, to ensure defence spending matches the rising threat, then defence will be hollowed out and this will put the men and women of our Armed Forces at risk.
“Today it is helicopters, we have already seen the hollowing out of our navy crews. Tomorrow it will be something else.”
Earlier this year The Telegraph revealed that the Navy has so few sailors it has had to decommission two warships to staff its new class of frigates.
An MoD spokesman said: “Helicopter aircrew training is continuing and there is no impact to the number of aircrew available for the front line and we have sufficient numbers to meet our operational requirements.
“It’s not unusual for trainees to have a period where they are fulfilling other tasks before undertaking further training.”