Defence cuts: Gurkhas and RAF take brunt

Air force personnel serving in Libya to be told they will lose their jobs as three services aim to cut 17,000 posts by 2015 Almost 500 RAF personnel will be told on Thursday that they are to be forced out of their jobs when the Ministry of Defence sets out the first details of its controversial redundancy programme aimed at reshaping Britain’s armed forces. The Gurkhas have also been hit hard, with infantrymen from the historic Nepalese brigade making up most of those in the army who will be told that they have been selected for compulsory redundancy. The announcement is likely to reopen bitter arguments about cuts to the defence budget that are being pushed through even though the UK is committed to fighting the insurgency in Afghanistan and has been asked to play a lead role in Libya. It will also spur on those who have demanded the government reconsiders the main conclusions of last year’s strategic defence and security review (SDSR) – calls that the defence secretary, Liam Fox, has dismissed outright. All three armed services announced redundancy programmes earlier this year after they were set an initial target of 17,000 job losses by 2015. Now the army and the RAF will set out the first round of redundancies, with the Royal Navy following later this month. The Guardian understands that 930 RAF staff will be told they have been selected for redundancy in the first wave. Of those, more than half – 490 – are compulsory redundancies. The other 440 redundancies will be voluntary. Although no fully trained pilots face the axe, the RAF admits that it will lose trainee pilots, weapons systems operators and some officers up to the rank of air commodore. Some of those who will be approached are thought to be support staff currently working at Gioia del Colle, the Italian base from where the RAF’s Panavia Tornado and Eurofighter Typhoon jets have been flying sorties over Libya since military intervention began in March. The army will notify 920 people that they are being made redundant. It is believed that 660 people applied to leave, and 260 are compulsory job cuts. Gurkha soldiers account for 140 of the enforced losses. No Gurkhas put in for voluntary redundancy, so the losses may prove to be especially provocative. However, the MoD will argue that the disproportionate number of Gurkhas reflects the fact that the brigade is 800 over strength because its infantrymen now serve for longer. The admission suggests the Gurkhas could be hit hard again in future redundancy rounds, especially now the army has been told to slim down to 82,000 by 2020 – one fifth below its current strength. “The Gurkhas have managed to cut back some of their numbers since the changes to their terms and conditions, but there is still a large overstaffing because of over-recruitment,” said one Whitehall source. “There are some gaps in other infantry regiments so it is possible some Gurkhas could be found jobs in other regiments.” The Labour party has renewed its calls for the government to rethink its defence strategy, with the shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, saying that the timing of the redundancy announcements could not be worse. “Just as many RAF personnel will be thinking about returning home having performed heroics in Libya, ministers are drawing up their P45s,” Murphy said. “People will be shocked and will wonder whether the government have got their priorities straight. This underlines the scale of the government’s cuts in manpower. The frontline cannot be protected from cuts this deep. “Savings must be made but, in a world of uncertainty to many, this will seem a worrying loss of important capability.” Former RAF wing commander and Tornado navigator Paul Smyth said the cuts now being made to the air force should be accompanied by clarity on what the service will be expected to do in the future. “When I joined in 1980, the RAF had about 90,000 staff. When I left in 2006, it was down to 45,000, and now it will be reduced again to about 30,000. My question is, how small can an organisation get before it becomes impossible for it to perform what it is supposed to?” He said some of the criticism from former officers would not help the RAF in the long run. “A lot of retired military people will be unhappy about the cuts, but they didn’t sort out problems that began on their watch,” he said. “Some of these people need to let go. But the government has to be clear about what it wants its armed forces for.” Retired rear admiral Chris Parry told the Guardian there was a “serious mismatch” between the aims of the defence review and the ways and means of achieving it. “There remains an incoherence. Liam Fox was sold a pup with the SDSR. He didn’t get the cash he needed.” Fox has insisted the redundancies are necessary so the UK can “restructure our forces to ensure that they are sufficiently flexible and adaptable to meet the demands of an uncertain future. “We would prefer not to have to make these reductions, but the government conducted the SDSR against the background of a dire fiscal situation in the economy and a £38bn black hole.” Contributors to Arrse, the army rumour service blog , cautioned those who were seeking to leave the services. “Stay in as long as you can,” said one. “It’s a bit crap out here these days.” Military Defence policy Ministry of Defence Liam Fox Gurkhas Public sector cuts Foreign policy Nick Hopkins guardian.co.uk

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