http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai.../ixnewstop.html
I really hope this is torygraph bullshit, but both Cranwell and Dartmouth unbelievably are on the axe!!!!
I truly cannot believe whats going on with the MOD!!!
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RAFC Cranwell to go
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Big Cheese
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Big Cheese
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Sorry bout that, thought the link worked.
The Royal Navy's historic officer training base at Dartmouth faces closure as part of a wave of heavy defence cuts.
The move is bound to provoke fierce criticism. Previous students at the 140-year-old base include Prince Philip, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York.
The RAF's officer training base at Cranwell, Lincs, set up in 1920, will also close.
The Army will keep its officer training college at Sandhurst but all Royal Navy and RAF officer training will move to the Joint Services Command and Staff College at Shrivenham, Wilts.
The present Dartmouth college was built in 1905 on land owned by the estate of Sir Walter Raleigh. Before that officers were trained on the wooden ship Britannia moored on the river Dart.
The cuts are part of Ministry of Defence plans to save billions of pounds, as demanded by the Treasury. Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, will announce them on Wednesday, the day before the Commons rises for the summer recess. The timing has been chosen to reduce the amount of time MPs have to debate them.
Mr Hoon will provide no details and will try to explain away the cuts by saying that they form part of a "re-balancing" of the Armed Forces to meet the needs of the 21st century
Now I'm told that Cranwell is the largest air academy in the WORLD. How is it that we cannot afford our own officer colleges now???? This is rediculous to the extreme.
The Royal Navy's historic officer training base at Dartmouth faces closure as part of a wave of heavy defence cuts.
The move is bound to provoke fierce criticism. Previous students at the 140-year-old base include Prince Philip, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York.
The RAF's officer training base at Cranwell, Lincs, set up in 1920, will also close.
The Army will keep its officer training college at Sandhurst but all Royal Navy and RAF officer training will move to the Joint Services Command and Staff College at Shrivenham, Wilts.
The present Dartmouth college was built in 1905 on land owned by the estate of Sir Walter Raleigh. Before that officers were trained on the wooden ship Britannia moored on the river Dart.
The cuts are part of Ministry of Defence plans to save billions of pounds, as demanded by the Treasury. Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, will announce them on Wednesday, the day before the Commons rises for the summer recess. The timing has been chosen to reduce the amount of time MPs have to debate them.
Mr Hoon will provide no details and will try to explain away the cuts by saying that they form part of a "re-balancing" of the Armed Forces to meet the needs of the 21st century
Now I'm told that Cranwell is the largest air academy in the WORLD. How is it that we cannot afford our own officer colleges now???? This is rediculous to the extreme.
Unfortunately TJD I think there's some element of possible/definite maybe here.
The services are gradually being combined, restructured, manning mixed etc. The RN Harrier Sqn is literally history, the RAF are running the show, Crab mechs, approx 100+ are being moved to Culdrose, Army units are being amalgamated, it goes on and on.
The RN College at Dartmouth is a shadow of it's former self, as I suppose Cranwell must be. It may well be on some REMFs mind to combine officer training in one central establishment, however sacriligeous that may seem to former members.
The services are gradually being combined, restructured, manning mixed etc. The RN Harrier Sqn is literally history, the RAF are running the show, Crab mechs, approx 100+ are being moved to Culdrose, Army units are being amalgamated, it goes on and on.
The RN College at Dartmouth is a shadow of it's former self, as I suppose Cranwell must be. It may well be on some REMFs mind to combine officer training in one central establishment, however sacriligeous that may seem to former members.
You should talk to somebody who gives a f**k.
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El Presidente
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El Presidente
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Re: RAFC Cranwell to go
There are all sorts of rumours around at the moment.Big Cheese wrote:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai.../ixnewstop.html
I really hope this is torygraph bullshit, but both Cranwell and Dartmouth unbelievably are on the axe!!!!
I truly cannot believe whats going on with the MOD!!!
Cranwell to close would be like taking the ravens away from the Tower of London or the the Apes from the Rock of Gibraltar. Our local news today has said that 800 personnel are being moved from RAF Stafford to RAF Wittering. The building work going on at the former USAF Base at Woodbridge is to house some 800 army types next year.
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Big Cheese
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Biggles1211
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Offical word out today in the RAF was that the story was pure scare mongering. Complete fantasy. There are no indications at all that RAFC Cranwell would close.
Rumoured for the chop are: Coltishall, Boulmer, Neatishead, Lyneham, Innsworth.
Rumoured for expansion are: Leeming, Wittering, Brize Norton, Scampton, High Wycombe.
Much of this is due to the introduction of the Typhoon, the re-organisation of Ops Supt provision, movt of C-130 fleet to Brize and JPA (Joint Personnel Administration).
Rumoured for the chop are: Coltishall, Boulmer, Neatishead, Lyneham, Innsworth.
Rumoured for expansion are: Leeming, Wittering, Brize Norton, Scampton, High Wycombe.
Much of this is due to the introduction of the Typhoon, the re-organisation of Ops Supt provision, movt of C-130 fleet to Brize and JPA (Joint Personnel Administration).
There was silly old me listening to all those fairy tales; and believing we may get the Typhoon before the end of the century. What a dilly I be. 
However........give those stuffed shirts in Whitehall and Dooming St an idea and they'll run with it.
However........give those stuffed shirts in Whitehall and Dooming St an idea and they'll run with it.
You should talk to somebody who gives a f**k.
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Read into this Guardian report what you like:-
Michael White and Richard Norton-Taylor
Tuesday July 20, 2004
The Guardian
Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, will this week announce the gradual disbandment of four "famous name" infantry regiments as part of a shift in military priorities that will see an equivalent number of engineers and other specialists needed to sustain frontline fighting forces.Mr Hoon will also merge up to 15 regiments into larger regionally based units, as exist in East Anglia, while retaining most of the army's cherished, historic regimental names, albeit only at battalion strength in some cases.
With the Treasury putting huge pressure on the Ministry of Defence to cut costs, especially on equipment purchases and "back office" staff, Mr Hoon will have his work cut out tomorrow to persuade MPs his new money is much more than the amount Gordon Brown is taking away.
"The infantry does a brilliant job, but that's not where the shortages are," said one senior source.
The four infantry regiments to be replaced by specialist support personnel will come out of Northern Ireland, where troop numbers are falling as peace holds. Two regiments have already left. It means that most soldiers can expect to return to a familiar region from a foreign posting. Regional consolidation will also mean that famous names - an especially sensitive issue for Scottish Highland regiments - will mostly be retained.
Cost-saving is not the only motive for the changes. Soldiers' partners and families are not as obliging as they used to be, and chafe against the tradition of rotating regiments around bases every two or three years. Partners have jobs and children have schools.
Some Challenger 2 battle tanks will also be taken out of active service - with some being "shared" to save money. More are likely to be spared than previously expected, given their role in Iraq. After the cold war, many senior defence planners suggested there was little need for "heavy metal" in the future.
One future instrument of modern warfare is expected to get the go-ahead from Mr Hoon today with an award to the Franco-British group, Thales, to build unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, Watchkeepers, which are able to communicate with a new generation of light army vehicles, called Fres.
The navy is expected to lose six surface ships - three aged Type 42 destroyers and three Type 23 anti-submarine warfare frigates - and the number of new Type 45 destroyers it is likely to get will be cut from the planned 12 to eight or even fewer.
It will keep the two aircraft carriers planned for 2012 and 2015, to be named HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.
The cost is estimated at around £3bn, although their size and the number and version of the US-made joint strike fighters to fly from them have yet to be decided.
The navy is likely to lose up to 5,000 employees, and the historic Royal Naval College at Dartmouth faces closure.
The RAF will lose personnel and a number of bases, as well as most of its 62 ageing Jaguar ground attack aircraft. It will keep its expensive and long-delayed Eurofighter programme, though the number it will get will almost certainly be cut.
The MoD agreed as part of last week's comprehensive spending review to find more than £2.8bn in efficiency savings by 2007-08 through more efficient procurement policies and logistics systems and cuts in "back office" and support functions.
Michael White and Richard Norton-Taylor
Tuesday July 20, 2004
The Guardian
Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, will this week announce the gradual disbandment of four "famous name" infantry regiments as part of a shift in military priorities that will see an equivalent number of engineers and other specialists needed to sustain frontline fighting forces.Mr Hoon will also merge up to 15 regiments into larger regionally based units, as exist in East Anglia, while retaining most of the army's cherished, historic regimental names, albeit only at battalion strength in some cases.
With the Treasury putting huge pressure on the Ministry of Defence to cut costs, especially on equipment purchases and "back office" staff, Mr Hoon will have his work cut out tomorrow to persuade MPs his new money is much more than the amount Gordon Brown is taking away.
"The infantry does a brilliant job, but that's not where the shortages are," said one senior source.
The four infantry regiments to be replaced by specialist support personnel will come out of Northern Ireland, where troop numbers are falling as peace holds. Two regiments have already left. It means that most soldiers can expect to return to a familiar region from a foreign posting. Regional consolidation will also mean that famous names - an especially sensitive issue for Scottish Highland regiments - will mostly be retained.
Cost-saving is not the only motive for the changes. Soldiers' partners and families are not as obliging as they used to be, and chafe against the tradition of rotating regiments around bases every two or three years. Partners have jobs and children have schools.
Some Challenger 2 battle tanks will also be taken out of active service - with some being "shared" to save money. More are likely to be spared than previously expected, given their role in Iraq. After the cold war, many senior defence planners suggested there was little need for "heavy metal" in the future.
One future instrument of modern warfare is expected to get the go-ahead from Mr Hoon today with an award to the Franco-British group, Thales, to build unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, Watchkeepers, which are able to communicate with a new generation of light army vehicles, called Fres.
The navy is expected to lose six surface ships - three aged Type 42 destroyers and three Type 23 anti-submarine warfare frigates - and the number of new Type 45 destroyers it is likely to get will be cut from the planned 12 to eight or even fewer.
It will keep the two aircraft carriers planned for 2012 and 2015, to be named HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.
The cost is estimated at around £3bn, although their size and the number and version of the US-made joint strike fighters to fly from them have yet to be decided.
The navy is likely to lose up to 5,000 employees, and the historic Royal Naval College at Dartmouth faces closure.
The RAF will lose personnel and a number of bases, as well as most of its 62 ageing Jaguar ground attack aircraft. It will keep its expensive and long-delayed Eurofighter programme, though the number it will get will almost certainly be cut.
The MoD agreed as part of last week's comprehensive spending review to find more than £2.8bn in efficiency savings by 2007-08 through more efficient procurement policies and logistics systems and cuts in "back office" and support functions.
.
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seandrs
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Cranwell Closing? What I Read
I read in the Independant and the Express, that the suggestion was that Sandhurst is too expensive for the army to upkeep. The RAF and RN were asked to look into the possibility of moving their officer training both to Sandhurst and therefore split the cost of Sandhursts upkeep between the three forces.
The last I read was the both the RAF and RN had totally refused the idea saying that the facilities on offer at Sandhurst don't match their requirements, and training officers there would be detrimental to RAF and RN operations.
The last I read was the both the RAF and RN had totally refused the idea saying that the facilities on offer at Sandhurst don't match their requirements, and training officers there would be detrimental to RAF and RN operations.
