RAF axes thousands as Army goes hiring

Defence review: MoD denies job campaign is `insensitive'

ROS WYNNE-JONES

More than 5,500 RAF redundancies were announced yesterday in the biggest single cut in personnel since the end of the Second World War. But the move came as the Armed Forces Minister, Nicholas Soames, launched the Army's new recruitment campaign, designed to fill 15,000 vacancies.

The cuts are the first phase of a plan outlined in the Front Line First Review through which the Ministry of Defence aims to equip the RAF for "defence after the fall of the Berlin Wall". The review, in 1994, unveiled 8,600 losses as part of a programme to cut the size of the RAF from 89,000 in 1989 to 52,200 at the turn of the century.

The MoD denied the timing of yesterday's Army recruitment drive - in which a massive advertising campaign including thousands of billboards will seek personnel able "to combine combat readiness with compassion" - was insensitive.

A spokesman said the RAF would be recruiting 3,200 people this year and by 1999 at least 5,000 per year, while the Army needed15,000 recruits this year. "We need to continue recruiting to keep a balanced air force in the years ahead," he said. This meant that some men and women who had asked for voluntary redundancy had not been allowed to take it and that over 1,000 of the redundancies were not voluntary.

Many jobs would be lost in engineering and catering due to a long-term government policy of contracting out non-uniform jobs, the MoD said.

"This could mean that an engineer might lose his job in the RAF but continue doing the same job for a private sector company," said a spokesman.

Redundancy terms are relatively lucrative. An Air Vice-Marshal with 21 months left to serve would receive around pounds 145,000 made up of pension payments, a terminal grant and a special "golden handshake".

There is concern within the RAF about the impact of the cuts - which include more than 200 air-crew and around a dozen top officers of the rank of Air Commodore and above, on the morale and operational effectiveness of the air force, as well as on aircraft safety.

An MoD spokesman said: "We can't deny there won't be associated problems.

"These cuts are the largest we can remember and obviously that is going to have an effect on people. As in any job, people are concerned about employment prospects and stability. "

The spokesman added that there were still good reasons for joining the air force, including the "opportunity to receive excellent training, acquire a variety of skills and travel overseas".

Mr Soames was yesterday officially opening the Royal Marines Barracks at Chivenor, Devon, the new home of the Commando Logistic Regiment Royal Marines and of 59 Independent Commando Squadron Royal Engineers.