Ninety years after the Spitfire’s first flight, Britain is reduced to shopping abroad for a training jet

Now it appears we are unable to construct a simple jet. How times change.

We are not very good at defence procurement. Fifteen reviews later, very little has improved. The system is too complex; the cultures within it unsuitable to offer impartial advice. Decision-makers routinely lack the experience or leadership to recognise foul play. A system unable to function is also unable to fix itself.

See Ajax: £6.3 billion for fewer operational vehicles than we have aircraft carriers. The carriers suffered two reversed decisions on catapults. Wedgetail is rapidly becoming the new Ajax. Those who say defence can’t have more money until it learns to spend it have a point. It’s unfortunate the Treasury is amongst them.

Meanwhile, Hawk T1s – now just the Red Arrows – are nearing the end of their service. 1970s-built, I have it on good authority that an airworthiness incident today would ground them. These jets showcase British excellence in engineering as well as flight.

The newer Hawk T2 fleet, operational since 2009, suffers from such severe reliability problems that it is barely able to support our ability to train future fast jet pilots. Theoretically, leaving service in 2040; in reality, it will be 2031.

Fast jets will need pilots for 50 years. The RAF should be training 40 a year; it currently manages 15.

With retirement dates looming, two paths appear: one is British, one is not.

The British option is AERALIS – a UK company ready to build a modular fast-jet trainer. They have convened a consortium, bringing decades of expertise around a common fuselage with much certification complete. This digital approach is routine in civil aviation but leaves traditionalists reeling.

Aimed initially at replacing the AJT, it could also fly as a display jet, aggressor, tanker, EW platform or loyal wingman – even from carriers. Software can emulate many aircraft types, including the F-35B and Tempest. It is the Type 31 of the air: versatile and mass-producible.

We must master this middle route to mass as budgets tighten. Chasing only ‘exquisite’ is what has left us so threadbare. We could build hundreds, creating thousands of skilled jobs, reviving key aviation nodes such as Prestwick and exporting them worldwide. Qatari backing means zero upfront cost.

The alternative is foreign. The frontrunner is the BAE/Boeing/Saab T-7 Red Hawk: a thirsty engine, and small fuel tanks mean that if it flew from RAF Leeming to the Mach Loop, it would have insufficient fuel to divert if needed.

The T-7 would be late, we’d be at the back of the queue, unable to modify or export it, and it would create fewer jobs. Another major issue is that 87 per cent of operational RAF aircraft are already US-built or include kit that depends on their permission.

Unchecked, the machine will announce yet another Prime-favouring competition. Meanwhile, Palantir, another US firm, has its multi-million dollar contracts nodded through. AERALIS, having been told to be patient, will be forced to take its product abroad.

We need Primes. This is a dig at decision-making that favours them over all else, bent out of shape by insider advice that puts ambition before strategy. It’s a system that attempts to minimise ever-present risk. Such cultural rot shows no signs of abating, even when presented with a homegrown solution to a basic problem.

Ninety years since creating the world's most iconic fighter, we now appear to lack even the ambition to make a training aircraft, instead stumbling abroad, paying more, losing control, whilst ensuring that UK business goes overseas. It is an exemplar of what's wrong.

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Tom Sharpe OBE is a retired navy commander, strategic communications consultant and defence commentator.

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