Abstract
Like the other two Services, the Royal Air Force (RAF) has been cornpelled to reassess its roles since the end of the Cold War. As part of this there has also been a recent attempt to revise the RAF’s doctrine, since it was felt that the last edition was too closely tied to a NATO—Warsaw Pact confrontation.1 While revisions are necessary, they need to be done carefully. There is a temptation to reason that because particular roles were dominant during the Cold War, they are no longer required in the new post-Cold War world. The RAF’s own history has shown the dangers of eliminating whole capabilities in periods of downsizing rather than effecting cuts across the board. History has also shown that some of the RAF’s roles are easier targets than others during cost-cutting exercises, and one role to have been targeted repeatedly is shore-based maritime aviation. Maritime aviation played an important role during the Cold War, but recent RAF restructuring shows that it is again under threat. Yet, in the future, there is likely to be as much, if not more, of a need for shore-based maritime aviation. Not only have most traditional roles for maritime aviation persisted beyond the Cold War, but as the RAF heads into the next century as part of the new joint service structure, the emphasis will be on littoral warfare. In this environment, the need for the RAF to maintain a strong maritime force is obvious.
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Notes
Air Historical Branch (RAF), AHB 1, Ref. l; Office of Naval Intelligence, Worldwide Maritime Challenges, 1997 (Washington, DC: US Government, March 1997).
Ibid., p. 26. See also pp. 24, 27–8.
Office of Naval Intelligence, World Submarine Challenges, 1997 (Washington, DC: US Government, 1997), p. 9. See also pp. 10–17; Statement for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, op. cit., p. 8.
Interviews with author, Ministry of Defence (MoD) Main Building (April 1997); AHB, Ref. 1; Office of Naval Intelligence, Worldwide Submarine Challenges, 1997, op. cit., p. 13; Office of Naval Intelligence, Worldwide Challenges to Naval Strike Warfare, 1997 (Washington, DC: US Government,1997), p. 22.
Office of Naval Intelligence, Worldwide Submarine Challenges, 1997, op. cit., p. 31; Statement for the Senate Select Committee, op. cit., pp. 15–16.
Office of Naval Intelligence, Worldwide Submarine Challenges, 1997, op. cit., pp. 18–23; Statement for the Select Committee on Intelligence, op. cit., p. 12.
Office of Naval Intelligence, Worldwide Submarine Challenges, 1997, op. cit., pp. 24–8; Statement for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, op. cit., p. 11; Jane’s Fighting Ships, 1997–98, op. cit., p. 393.
IISS, The Military Balance 1997–98 (Oxford: OUP for IISS, 1997), pp. 299–302; D. Miller, An Illustrated Guide to Modern Submarines (New York: Arco, 1982), pp.110–11,120–1,146–7.
Office of Naval Intelligence, Worldwide Submarine Challenges, 1997, op. cit.
Jane s Fighting Ships, 1997–98, op. cit., p. 320; Office of Naval Intelligence, Worldwide Maritime Challenges, 1997,op. cit., p. 21.
PRO AIR 41/74. AHB, ‘The RAF in the Maritime War’, vol.V, ‘The Atlantic and Home Waters: the Victorious Phase, June 1944—May 1945’, p. 29; C. J. M. Goulter, A Forgotten Offensive: Royal Air Force Coastal Command’s Anti-Shipping Campaign, 1940–1945 (London: Frank Cass, 1995), pp. 224–5; Office of Naval Intelligence,Worldwide Submarine Challenges, 1997, op. cit., p. 32.
Office of Naval Intelligence, Challenges to Naval Expeditionary Warfare, 1997, (Washington, DC: US Government, 1997), p. 7.
IISS, Strategic Survey, 1970 (London: IISS, 1971), p. 90.
Interviews with author, MoD Main Building (April 1997); discussion with Lt F. Ford, RN, Bracknell (February 1998); AHB 2 work in progress; Goulter (1995), op. cit., chs 4–8 esp.; Office of Naval Intelligence, Worldwide Challenges to Naval Strike Warfare, 1997, op. cit., p. 21.
Goulter (1995), op. cit, esp. Chaps. 4–9.
For a discussion of the importance of intelligence in blockading operations, see C. Goulter, ‘The Role of Intelligence in Coastal Command’s Anti-Shipping Campaign, 1940–45’, Intelligence and National Security, vol. 5, no. 1, January 1990.
Office of Naval Intelligence, World wide Maritime Challenges, 1997, op. cit., p. 20.
Ibid., p. 20.
Goulter (1995), op. cit., p. 38. See also pp. 317–21; AHB Narrative, Defence Policy and the RoyalAir Force, 1956–1963, 1987, pp. xiii—xviii, 1–23, 173–8; interviews with the author, US Naval War College, 1997 (Captain J. O’Rourke).
Using the 1996/97 budget for comparison. SDE UK Defence Statistics, 1992–96. See also J. Bourn, Securing halue for Money in Defence Procurement, Whitehall Paper No. 25 (London: RUSI, 1994); Air International, September 1996, p. 130; A. Hezlet, Aircraft and Sea Power (London, 1970), ch. 14; discussions with Dr Brian Sullivan, team leader of the US Space Doctrine development (November 1997); Scott, W. ‘Milspace Maturing into Warfighter Roles’, Aviation Weekand Space Technology, 1 September 1997, pp. 46–8.
Goulter (1995), op. cit., esp. chs 4–5; interviews with the author, MoD Main Building (Apri11997).
For a full discussion of the interwar debates, see Goulter (1995), op. cit., chs 1–3, and G. Till, Air Power and the Royal Navy, 1914–1945 (London: Jane’s, 1979), pp. 29–55. See also PRO AIR 41/45, RAF Narrative, ‘The RAF in the Maritime War: the Prelude’; AHB Narrative, ‘Defence Policy and the Royal Air Force, 1956–1963’ (1987), pp. 64–6,173–8, Appendix L, `Coastal Command: the 1958–59 Controversy’.
Goulter (1995), op. cit.; AHB Narrative, ‘Defence Policy and the Royal Air Force, 1956–1963’, Appendix L; AP 3000, op. cit., esp. p. 71.
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Goulter, C.J.M. (1999). The Royal Air Force and the Future of Maritime Aviation. In: Dorman, A., Smith, M.L., Uttley, M.R.H. (eds) The Changing Face of Maritime Power. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230509610_12
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