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4:00PM BST 21 May 2014
RAF forced to use binoculars to search for British sailors after patrol planes scrapped
Decision to send RAF C-130 Hercules to search for four missing yachtsmen will have 'limited impact',
because Britain has scrapped its specialist maritime patrol planes
An RAF Hercules sent to hunt for four missing yachtsmen has no specialised search equipment and crew will be forced to rely on looking out of the window with binoculars due to Coalition cuts.
RAF officers admitted the transport plane sent to join the search over the Atlantic will be relying on “Mark 1 eyeballs and binoculars” because Britain no longer has any sea patrol planes.
US coastguard aircraft, which resumed their search for the missing sailors following pressure from the British Government,
are able to deploy sophisticated sensors to hunt for the missing men.
The admission comes weeks after RAF chiefs warned the Government that the lack of maritime patrol aircraft meant
if an airliner disappeared near the UK in similar circumstances to the Malaysian MH370 jet,
Britain would not have the planes to find it.
The C-130 took off from RAF Brize Norton early on Wednesday to join three aircraft and four ships from the US and Canada that are already combing 3,000 sq miles of ocean in the search for the crew of the 40ft Cheeki Rafiki.
Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary,
said the C-130 would “provide additional capability and resilience to the resumed search led by US and Canadian forces”.
But RAF sources cautioned the aircraft would rely on the US maritime patrol planes’ sensors to scan the vast area and they would direct the plane to visually check out any promising signs.
One officer said: “The Herc is not a maritime patrol plane, it’s a troop carrier.”
Britain has been without dedicated maritime patrol aircraft since Nimrod was scrapped in 2010 with an upgrade programme running nine years late and £800 million over budget.
The MoD has postponed a decision on replacing the planes until at least next year.
Sir Gerald Howarth MP, a former defence minister, said:
“It’s simply a disgrace we took this capability out. This illustrates the bind into which the MoD was put.
"It’s not just this event which has exposed this lack of capability, it’s also the hunt for the Malaysian airline.
“Let’s say these had been American sailors in waters for which we had responsibility. We wouldn’t have been able to deliver.”
Vernon Coaker, the shadow defence secretary, said despite the best efforts of the RAF crew, the Hercules would have “a limited impact”.
He said: “That points to a worrying gap that exists in Britain’s maritime patrol and surveillance capability.
"The support of allies in situations like this is absolutely vital but we do need to ensure we have the capacity to act ourselves when we need to,
and the last few days has brought that in to sharp focus.”
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