The Ministry of Defence is looking for a provider to deliver ‘Survive, Evade, Resist and Extract’ training to all Fast Jet Aircrew.
The five-year contract would start on the 1st of April 2022 and end on the 21st of March 2027.
According to a contract tendering notice:
“The delivery of Survive, Evade, Resist and Extract (SERE) training to all Fast Jet Aircrew is mandated in accordance with Military Aviation Authority (MAA) regulations. Without undertaking this training Aircrew are not permitted to fly. With the arrival of the Texan and the expiration of the current contract (T2 delivery) there will be a significant delivery gap post 31 Mar 22. MAA RA2130 & Joint Service Publication (JSP 911) detail the SERE requirements and how they are to be delivered. The current contract has now been in place for 24 years (established 1997 – ACT/04404).
There are no known re-let options within the contract as both additional option years have been activated. Force Development Squadron have been supporting the wider delivery of SERE training (Texan and limited additional T2 support as required). However, there are insufficient resources to support SERE training delivery across both platform types. Additionally, the protracted SERE training pipeline and manpower churn would require an uplift of manpower (4 x Mil pers).
The preferred option would be the contracted delivery option for pan platform Fast Jet Training at RAF Valley. Notwithstanding the change within the contract requirement (No requirement for T1 Ground School), the additional commitment of Texan SERE training presents a comparable off set in terms of delivery time and cost.”
The value of the contract is unspecified.
What is Survive, Evade, Resist and Extract training?
Training design to equip personnel in skills relating to survival techniques, evading capture and resistance from interrogation, prior to overseas deployment.
Surely this can be met from within the military community i.e. SF Combat Survival instructors unless they are too busy with having to train up the RANGER Brigade.
Nope, experienced trainers all want to move into private contracting and charge the MOD 5 times what they would have been paid to provide the service in house. If not there are plenty of other counties out there willing to pay a premium for experienced British war veterans to train their troops.
Is there any reason this can’t be done in-house by the army?
This is normally provided in house by the RAF Force Development Squadron. From the article it sounds like this is to provide additional resources as they are (possibly) undermanned and need more capacity faster than they can bring qualified personnel through.
Given that you have a little over 10 weeks to get your “sh*t” together, I would suspect that they already have a provider lined up and ready to go.
Part of the selection process for special forces.
I would have thought the Army already has what’s required to facilitate this?
The Army used to have this it was the escape and evasion ex, well at least I know that I underwent these ex when I was in the Army.
The army provided the hunter force.
Yes, SERE at St Mawgan.
Has RAF & RN survival schools.
Int Corps provide interregators at the RTI Training Wing.
Not just Int Corps. Anyone who had gone through the course in Ashford Kent could facilitate interrogation.
Used to be known as the long course when I was at sunny Mountbatten.
My brother’s son-in-law attended this about a year ago as he flies the Apache, not one of his better days out by all accounts!
Only the last 5 days, it’s instructors they need and on selection it’s just a phase you have to pass. Used to be a team at Pfulledorf, including the CO, from 22, at the LRRPS school, however due to reduced numbers in the SF community the Brit team was pulled out and replaced by US and Norwegian lads. The current RAF aircrew training is done in house by the RAF. Cheers.
I done e+e at the old LRRP school..wiengarcden..( spelling might be wrong
SERE is already provided at the Defence SERE Training Organisation at RAF St Mawgan.
So is that being privitised?
They already do work with other PTC prone to capture forces, from DSF to pilots other departments.
Why not privatise it? Likely to go to ex service personell anyway. When you have reduced numbers focus them on activities at the sharp end and not on training …
Because short term, you have the ex servicemen who taught the techniques to employ.
Later, once they retire and there is no stream of ex military RTI/SERE experts any more because the skill set has gone and the military no longer do it, then, it’s gone.
You might hire ex forces regardless it won’t mean they have the experience.
Also, I’m against privatisation of many areas of the military, such as here. The early Marshall article has already shown up some drawbacks.
There does seem to be a whole industry around jumping out of flying objects in both the military and private sector. Whilst I take your point I expect both sectors would benefit and so might the people who might be interested and enjoy that activity. I take your point on privatisation but it does have it’s benefits as well as it’s drawbacks. Most importantly it is a fact of life and if a company spends monday & Tuesday on the military and still makes a profit on the public the rest of the week then to military can’t compete on… Read more »
Which privatisation do you think has worked and saved money ?
If the private sector disappeared overnight Peter the public sector would cease to function. You hear about the problems but never those contracts which keep the country turning.Which part of the military would function if not for the private sector – from one man bands to multinationals. When you run any organisation you keep in mind what is in your skillset. If it is not in your skillset then buy it in. Sometimes it is wise to include things in your skillset and sometimes it is wise to exclude them. Organisations can be too lean and too fat. Normally the… Read more »
Babcock Land has only made profit one year since buying the Defence Support Group and productivity is lower than MOD because they paid off all the good managers and a lot of skilled staff. These were replaced by cheaper ones , site manager at Bovington rarely lasted a year ?
This is not uncommon. Sounds like the bid was insufficient to run the company plus I would not be surprised at multiple failures with the procurement and supplier management. Much of what is taught to public sector procurement nowadays is that you should be hand in glove with the supplier and the client should be paying the supplier sufficient money to provide the necessary service. Failure to do this is a threat to the service. Unfortuneately many buyers in government departments won’t leave their desks and make the effort to make the contract work. This does not mean that privatisation… Read more »
Worse is those on new contracts have less holiday, sickness ,allowances etc while the government department who sold it off keeps all theirs. Seems their latest plan through the voluntary release scheme is to offer it to union people to lower the numbers below the threshold required to bother with unions !
Unionised workplaces are dying out. Pay and conditions are reliant on on hard graft and an indivivduals willingness to shop around for the best job. Much of the public sector has moved that way already. That saidthe people running the privatisation are heading in a high rish high reward direction. It is best to start your own company and bid for the work.
Again its this Modern Training plan, where all these large Companies take over the running of the training programs.
but it just loads the accountability and the sudden increase of a private company working on MOD Crown Land.
its complicated.
I know what you mean but there is absolutely no need for it to be a large company the move nowadays is towards SMEs. Crown land is worth more to the crown with private enterprise mixed with public training than standing idle for 90% of the time.
What happened to the Combat Survival School at RAF St Mawgan?
Hope this does not go to a large company, there are many capable outdoor enthusiasts, bush crafters and wilderness travelers.
People assume the big companies will get this stuff but SMEs are flavour of the month.
This is a joke right, along with the privatisation of the parachute training what is going on, it looks like the Chinese spy who has been advising the Labour party is now advising the Civil Service.
If there is truly not enough money in the pot to give the pilots a heads up on escape and evasion then there is some thing serious wrong at the top of the tree!!!
Combat Survival and Escape and Evasion training was delivered historically by both Special forces and Army Intelligence.This was primarily to ensure that any participants were treated in line with the Geneva Convention.JSIW would administer and run the interrogation phase whilst combat troops would act as the hunter force and manage the holding areas.Civilian interrogators are not something new and by externalising the training element it removes bias and ensures standards are met across the board.Ex special forces operatives who have experience working deep within jungle and desert environments on hard routine would be ideal candidates for this work as they… Read more »
Is JSIW current do you know? Chicksands?
I remember SubBrief talking about this a couple of weeks ago.
As somebody who has been through the SERE course i’m a little confused about what is being handed over here. Sea survival and permissive land survival sure.
The level C course is really something else. It is highly specialised and I don’t see how or why it could be run by civvies. The staff on course come from various spook units and don’t have names, it’s not a gap contractors can fill.
Exactly. I too was confused by this.
I was under the impression the MoD, RAF, Army were the experts in this field, but this smacks of a lack of planning and cost-cutting, along with an eventual loss of expertise. As with everything farmed out, it’ll end up costing a fortune and MoD lose, consultants win.
Most green growbags just ask for the nearest hotel, 3 star is a tough life and a poor standard of room.
The RM do this as part of their basic training and indepth when training for the ML course
You would think the SAS could provide this service cheaply as its part of their training program ?
Total bull !!, this should be increased and maintained in house and utilised across all the services…end of.
I survived three nights by my self with only the bare essentials of Mac Donald’s and Kentucky Fried along with a Kebab that lingered too long in my presence to get away .It is a story I dont share often as it make me out like some Bear Grill’s bragger always topping what ever story anyone else could produce . Some times at night I lie awake reliving the adventure in my mind , the Kebab did not die a clean death due to my novices skills .
This is a core part of the standard special forces training. The resources to provide this or train additional instructors exist already!
Or is the motivation to direct more tax payers money to some third party who has a member of government in their pocket?
This is ridiculous. This has always been (predominantly) provided in house. Capitalism at its very worst, businesses creaming money from the MOD, who cannot even supply the armed forces with the manpower, and kit (at appropriate levels) they need.
Be some deal done in those posh members club with some ones chum, should have kept Remploy making the uniforms both for giving purpose to disabled workers instead of being made by the enemy in China !
RTFQ. This is for Hawk & Texan at RAF Valley, it doesn’t mention the wider SERE delivery in MoD.
MOD needing more Aircraft to help out ,private sector to do survival training ,for our Armed forces I do get lost for words 😷
Well if they are going to privatise the training why not privatise the rest of the army and we could all re-enlist in the Royal British Merc’s then declare war on the MoD hang a few knobs that seem to be working for the opposition use a few of the politicians for bayonet practice job done then home for a swift pint down the local.
As an ex instructor from St.Mawgan this role reads like you’ll need those with Parachuting experience…fast jet ejection knowledge…not just ‘fire starting’
If you read the notice, SERE has been successfully delivered by contractors since 1997 but only on Hawk. This new contract is to include Texan as well.