Air Power 2017

21 ST CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS AIR POWER 2017 61

21 ST CENTURY CAPABILITIES

Air Marshal Julian Young tells Simon Michell how Defence Equipment

and Support (DE&S) works with its partners to ensure that the Royal

Air Force has the equipment it needs for the future

EQUIPPING THE

FUTURE RAF

WORKING WITH DE&S

W

hen Air Marshal (AM) Julian Young

was appointed Chief of Materiel

(Air) at Defence Equipment and

Support (DE&S) in April 2016,

he became the focal point for equipping the

armed forces with fixed-wing aircraft and their

subsequent through-life support. His primary

customer is the Royal Air Force, but he also helps

to address British Army, Joint Forces Command

(JFC) and Royal Navy fixed-wing requirements.

Prior to his current appointment, AM Young

spent 15 months as DE&S’s Director Helicopters; before

then he was the organisation’s Technical Director

for a period of two years. This relatively long tenure

in the organisation means that he has witnessed

at first hand the transformation of DE&S that

has resulted from the radical reforms that

Lord Levene proposed back in 2011.

The Levene reforms, among other things,

transferred responsibility for setting and paying for

equipment requirements from the Whitehall offices

in the Ministry of Defence (MOD) Main Building

to the Front-Line Commands. AM Young is in a

perfect position to comment on the Levene reforms

Project Centurion

will enable the

Typhoon (top) to

seamlessly replace

the Tornado

(bottom) when it is

withdrawn in March

2019 after 37 years

in service (PHOTO:

© CROWN COPYRIGHT)