UK focuses on engineering personnel to improve F-35B availability

Ground crew attend to an RAF F-35B during Exercise ‘Red Flag' in the US. The MoD is now investing heavily in engineering personnel to support the Lightning Force, the government has said. (Crown Copyright)

The United Kingdom is focusing on building up its cadre of engineering personnel as it looks to improve availability rates for the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) combat aircraft.

Answering a question in the House of Commons related to personnel shortfalls within the F‑35 programme, Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Luke Pollard said on 20 November that boosting engineer numbers across the spectrum of Royal Air Force (RAF) capabilities was a key priority of the minister in his government.

“The Ministry of Defence has introduced a programme of surging recruitment for the RAF so that it returns to workforce balance across every specialisation. This activity includes a significant focus on the engineer profession where, over the last two years, the RAF has offered joining bonuses and increased the capacity of technical training schools to enable more recruits to be trained. To improve retention, the RAF has implemented a Financial Retention Incentive for engineers. The recruitment and retention of personnel remains one of the top two priorities for the chief of the defence staff,” Pollard said.

The question that prompted the minister's response references the National Audit Office (NAO) The UK's F-35 capability