Air Power and International Security 24. UK Air Mobility
With the Integrated Review 'Refresh' published last month, we thought now would be a good opportunity to reconsider some of the impacts that the Integrated Review, and by extension, the Defence Command Paper, has had on the UK's air mobility force. Given that air mobility is an often neglected role of air power, we'll be asking Andy Netherwood why air mobility is important and it should be taken very seriously. Following the publication of the Integrated Review in 2021, the Ministry of Defence cut the RAF's Air Mobility Force by almost 30%, so we'll be asking what this has meant for the UK's warfighting capabilities, interoperability with international allies, and global influence more broadly.
Andy served in the RAF for over twenty years as a C-130 and C-17 pilot. He also worked at Air Mobility Force HQ, where he was responsible for developing air mobility capability. He is now the Air and Space Power editor at the Wavell Room.