Ministers have heaped praise on the RAF for the Libyan campaign but are pressing ahead with this week’s redundancy programme. Nearly 1,000 soldiers will also be told tomorrow that they are being sacked.
Last night the Ministry of Defence was unable to rule out redundancies among RAF ground crew and technicians supporting the daily flights over Libya, although pilots were safe from redundancy.
Tomorrow’s announcement marks the beginning of a wave of redundancies in the Armed Forces following last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review.
In all, around 22,000 military posts will be eliminated by 2015, more than half of them through redundancies. The RAF has been flying daily sorties over Libya since March and continues to mount attacks on military forces loyal to Col Gaddafi. Yesterday, the MoD said that RAF Tornado and Typhoon aircraft had destroyed an ammunition lorry and three command posts.
Tomorrow, a total of 964 RAF and 938 Army personnel will be informed that they are being made redundant.
As The Daily Telegraph disclosed earlier this year, they include 170 trainee pilots. Also being dismissed are around 200 weapons technicians and operators, 529 ground tradesmen and 121 senior officers.
The RAF has been seeking applications for voluntary departures, but it is thought that up to half of the redundancies will still be compulsory. Dr Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, has repeatedly praised the aerial campaign, which has seen British warplanes flying to Libya from Gioia del Colle in southern Italy and RAF Marham in Norfolk.
Last month he flew to Gioia del Colle and praised the “immense contribution” of the RAF personnel working there.
The Air Force’s work was “key to the successes we have seen so far in this campaign and is helping protect innocent Libyans from persecution,” he said.
Ministers have said that any Armed Forces personnel engaged in or preparing for front-line operations would be exempt from redundancy under the defence cuts. But officials confirmed yesterday that the assurance only covered RAF personnel flying over Libya.
Ground crews working on the operation in Italy or at British bases were eligible for sacking, the MoD said.
An MoD source said that any personnel “putting their lives at risk” on the Libyan operation would be safe from redundancy, but confirmed that ground crew at airbases did not qualify for such
protection.
The source said: “Those who are operating in the danger zone and placing themselves at risk operating over or in Libya have been protected from the axe, though some who are on Libyan operations may volunteer to go.”
Around 1,600 Royal Navy staff will also be laid off on Sept 30 as part of the first tranche of military redundancies. A much larger round of sackings is being prepared for early 2013, with redundancies expected across all three Services.
By James Kirkup, and Andrew Porter taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/8732137/RAF-crews-face-sack-as-Libya-campaign-rages.html
The RAF has been seeking applications for voluntary departures, but it is thought that up to half of the redundancies will still be compulsory. Dr Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, has repeatedly praised the aerial campaign, which has seen British warplanes flying to Libya from Gioia del Colle in southern Italy and RAF Marham in Norfolk.
Last month he flew to Gioia del Colle and praised the “immense contribution” of the RAF personnel working there.
The Air Force’s work was “key to the successes we have seen so far in this campaign and is helping protect innocent Libyans from persecution,” he said.
Ministers have said that any Armed Forces personnel engaged in or preparing for front-line operations would be exempt from redundancy under the defence cuts. But officials confirmed yesterday that the assurance only covered RAF personnel flying over Libya.
Ground crews working on the operation in Italy or at British bases were eligible for sacking, the MoD said.
An MoD source said that any personnel “putting their lives at risk” on the Libyan operation would be safe from redundancy, but confirmed that ground crew at airbases did not qualify for such
protection.
The source said: “Those who are operating in the danger zone and placing themselves at risk operating over or in Libya have been protected from the axe, though some who are on Libyan operations may volunteer to go.”
Around 1,600 Royal Navy staff will also be laid off on Sept 30 as part of the first tranche of military redundancies. A much larger round of sackings is being prepared for early 2013, with redundancies expected across all three Services.
By James Kirkup, and Andrew Porter taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/8732137/RAF-crews-face-sack-as-Libya-campaign-rages.html
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