Uni partnerships lift forces' high flyers

Royal Navy Military Aviation Degree

The innovative Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) Military Aviation Academy has successfully combined military flying training and education into a Military Aviation Studies Foundation Degree, giving academic recognition to the unique skills needed for service in combat aircraft.

The initial degree programme provides budding pilots and observers (tactical navigators) with the skills, attitude and the knowledge to become fully-trained Aviation Warfare Officers and utilises state-of-the-art simulation and computer-based training (CBT), combined with more practically based tasks when airborne.

The degree, validated by the Open University, gives students an option of topping up to gain an Honours qualification whilst going straight into a frontline Naval Air Squadron. But the combination of education and military skills does not stop here. Selected graduates can later move on to a full time Masters course at the Defence Academy.

Lieutenant James Capps, aged 28, is one of the first students to graduate from the course and was recently presented with a Foundation Degree in Military Aviation Studies from the Open University at the Barbican in London after completing Operational Flying Training at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose in Cornwall.

As part of his studies, Lieutenant Capps will now go on to take his place on the front line with 845 Naval Air Squadron, part of the Commando Helicopter Force, and fly the Sea King Mk 4, used to move troops and their equipment around the battlefield. He is deploying on his first operational deployment to Afghanistan later this year:

"From an early age I'd always wanted to be a pilot but never really thought about the military," explains James. "But since joining the Navy, I haven't looked back and I've flown at over 600 mph, and qualified on numerous aerobatic aircraft.

"The opportunity to obtain a second degree has added another educational string to my bow."

NCO leadership courses at RAF Halton

Meanwhile, RAF Halton has teamed up with The Air Power Studies Division of King's College London to deliver a new educational programme for non-commissioned officers on management and leadership courses taught at Halton.

Since 2005 the Division has taught an extensive undergraduate-level curriculum for Officer Cadets and Officers at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell. This programme has now expanded to include Non-Commissioned Officers, at RAF Halton.

The RAF has become one of the only Air Forces in the world to provide university-level education, not just to officers, but to its other uniformed personnel.

Professor Matt Uttley, Head of King's College, said:

"The new venture represents a bold and sensible step by the Royal Air Force and a positive development for the College. We will initially base one academic lecturer at RAF Halton and augment from our team of academics at Cranwell as needed.

"They will teach vital issues, including the current security environment, the nature of insurgency and terrorism, the UK's current operational focus and strategies and the ethics of war. The teaching experience should be mutually beneficial and the King's lecturers will hear first-hand, and learn a lot from those NCOs who have been out on operations and will doubtless share rich insights into operational realities."

Dr Joel Hayward, Dean of the Royal Air Force College, who this week delivered the inaugural King's College presentation to the second pilot Warrant Office Study Period, said:

"My colleagues and I have been working closely with the Station Commander and his specialists to develop a curriculum that is relevant, insightful and enriching."

Group Captain Richard Gammage, Station Commander at RAF Halton, expressed his conviction that:

"This additional educational package for the Royal Air Force's Non-Commissioned Officers will enhance their mental agility and better enable them to understand, and flourish within, today's complex operational environment. This significant step in developing NCO leadership training is widely welcomed."