Examination of Witnesses (Questions 380
- 384)
WEDNESDAY 3 NOVEMBER 2004
GENERAL SIR
MIKE JACKSON
KCB CBE DSO ADC GEN
Q380 Mr Cran: Yes.
General Sir Mike Jackson: That
is set against an absolute ideal whereby for every scenario we
have, every helicopter would be there in its full theoretical
quantity. If you then go to defence planning assumptions and test
it, you get a slightly different answer and lower, taking a sensible
degree of risk, that you are not going to be doing everything
all at once, and it comes out to about 20 per cent. So we need
to be careful with that number; it is somewhat idealistic. As
to the future programme, I have said all I can usefully say to
you. I am not trying to dodge the issue.
Q381 Mr Cran: Of course not.
General Sir Mike Jackson: You
really would be better off with the procurement side.
Q382 Mr Cran: I can see the point
entirely. When the Chief of the Air Staff came before us, he said
that we have three champions for the place of the helicopter,
and we know who those three are. Is there not a slight possibility
of confusion in all of this? I have discovered in my life that
if you have three people doing the same thing, there are problems.
Just talk me through this as you see it.
General Sir Mike Jackson: Part
of this is historical legacy, as I am sure everybody knows, in
that the Army has only ever flown relatively small battlefield
helicopters closely integrated into a tactical manoeuvre. You
had perhaps better ask the First Sea Lord about the maritime side
of helicopter life, but it is a great force multiplier when you
have a helicopter on the back of a frigate, for example, in a
multi-role. The fact that the Royal Air Force commenced flying
with medium-weight helicopters is a matter of history. I think
the ownership argument, if that is what you are on, Sir, is probably
a bit stale and sterile. The advent of the joint helicopter command
was to by-pass this, as I say, rather sterile argument. The important
thing is the capability we get out of them and the command control
which allows those aircraft to be used to their best effect, and
in my last job as Commander-in-Chief, Land, the joint helicopter
command were under my command and it has been a very considerable
success indeed.
Q383 Mr Cran: So you, as the Chief
of the General Staff, do not see any possibility of confusion,
of lack of clear accountability and so on and so forth? You are
perfectly happy?
General Sir Mike Jackson: I have
been on operations and exercised with support helicopters with
joint helicopter force a great deal and I have never found them
wanting in any way; on the contrary, great support, no pun intended.
Q384 Chairman: Thank you very much.
We are all champions, 11 of us, of the regimental system.
General Sir Mike Jackson: So am
I, Chairman, but it is a question of which dimension we have.
Chairman: There is no confusion at all,
General! Thank you very much, it is appreciated.
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