Air Power 2017

EDITOR’S LETTER

21 ST CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS AIR POWER 2017 29

SIMON MICHELL

EDITOR, RAF AIR POWER 2017

T

his year’s RAF Air Power highlights the extensive

nature of the network of partnerships to which

the Royal Air Force (RAF) contributes, and from

which it benefits, as it strives to maintain its

eminent status as one of the world’s leading air powers.

These partnerships bind the RAF to an astonishing array

of organisations, industries, countries and allies that are

all working together towards the same aim – a secure and

stable world. The relationships that evolve out of these

activities provide immeasurable advantages in both

directions. They are, without doubt, the bedrock for the

transformation of the RAF into a 21st-century air force.

In this publication, we have been fortunate to be able to

include the views of some of the partners with which

the RAF has engaged over the past 12 months. We are

extremely grateful to the Heads of air forces from Canada,

Malaysia and Norway and the United States Air Force Europe,

who have expressed their personal feelings about the

need for global engagement and close cooperation.

We have also heard from those who the RAF helps to protect

• from the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic to the Baltic
  States in northern Europe – and how this protection enables
  their security and prosperity. Closer to home, we have first-hand
  accounts of how the Air Cadets Organisation helps to produce
  confident, proactive citizens able to make the most of their
  opportunities, whether that be in a uniform or society at large.

CAPABILITY ENHANCEMENT

In order to remain in the first division of air powers, the RAF has

to constantly refresh and maintain its capabilities, its manpower

and its equipment. As the RAF prepares for the introduction

of new groundbreaking air systems via the F-35, P-8 Poseidon

and Protector, we have also been able to reach out to the

programme managers who are building them and unit

commanders who have already been operating with the new

systems to understand the unique contribution that the RAF is

making to the process of designing, building and using them.

We are, therefore, grateful to Vice Admiral Mat Winter,

Program Executive Officer for the F-35 Lightning Joint Program

Office, who has offered insights into the United Kingdom’s special

relationship with the industrial community that is building this

new fifth-generation multirole jet. And, with the imminent arrival

of the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, Vice Admiral

Grosklags (Commander, US Navy Air Systems Command, P-8)

and Rear Admiral Kyle Cozad (Commander of the US Navy’s

Patrol and Reconnaissance Group) have both underlined the

enormous strategic and tactical advantages that this new aircraft

will deliver to its operators worldwide and the part that the RAF

has played in the programme. The partnership with the US has

been vital for the UK to retain its airborne maritime patrol skills.

Finally, we would also like to thank the numerous members

of the RAF who have offered their time, advice and expertise

to our editorial team to ensure that we can deliver accurate

and compelling accounts and insights into the highlights of

the previous year’s activities. They are not only fascinating,

but also demonstrate the enormous value that the RAF adds

to national and international security and prosperity.

The benefits of partnerships