- UK official confirms discussions with private sector to assist pilot training for intelligence gathering fleet have taken place
- The UK military has struggled to train enough fast jet and fixed-wing pilots in recent years, with long delays
- A scandal rocked the RAF in 2023 after it was revealed to be keen to reduce the number of white, male applicants
The UK government has had discussions with the private sector to provide pilot training services for the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) highly secretive ISTAR intelligence gathering fleet in a bid to meet a “short-term increase” in frontline demand.
Detailed in a 7 November UK parliamentary answer, Louise Sandher-Jones, newly enrolled as the Minister of Veterans and People following a little-covered reshuffle in the Ministry of Defence, confirmed there had been “recent discussions” with private sector pilot training suppliers.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
“These discussions have been focused on assessing the cost-effectiveness and viability of private training providers for elements of multi-engine pilot training to meet a short-term increase in frontline demand for multi-engine pilots due to the introduction of new Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance [ISTAR] platforms within the RAF,” Sandher-Jones said.
Although not disclosed in the answer, the mention of the UK’s multi-engine ISTAR fleet could refer to the highly secretive operations conducted by the RC-135W Rivet Joint and R1 Shadow aircraft, which are available in small numbers.
According to the UK’s official equipment inventory, as of the start of Q2 2025, the RAF had three US-origin RC-135W Rivet Joint intelligence gathering aircraft in service, along with six R1 Shadow ISTAR platforms, the latter of which are based on the twin-engine King Air aircraft.
However, numbers for these platforms in UK inventories have remained static for the past five years, with only the R1 force registering a drop of eight aircraft in service in 2023, versus six at present.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataThe answer was in response to a series of questions in recent days regarding the current state of UK military pilot training, with Sandher-Jones on 6 November refusing to disclose the number of fully qualified RAF pilots available for frontline deployment, claiming security reasons.
A slightly different question regarding “adequacy of recruitment levels of pilot trainees” for the RAF was responded to on 7 November, with Sandher-Jones stating that a “full and ongoing assessment” by the RAF had found the service has “adequate” numbers entering service.
In 2023 an official inquiry found that the Royal Air Force had been discriminatory in seeking to reduce the number of “useless white male pilots” in a bid to meet diversity goals in scandal that rocked the service, as reported by Sky News at the time.
UK pilot training beset by problems
In 2022 Airforce Technology reported into ongoing issues for the UK’s military pilot training, particularly in fast-jet requirements. At the time, the UK had only 33 pilots for its then 27 F-35B stealth fighters, including three who were on exchange from the US and Australia.
The number of UK-owned F-35B fighters has since increased to 37 aircraft, with the UK government apparently keen to avoid detailing how many fully trained pilots it has for the fleet.
Speaking in 2022, the then Conservative Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that UK pilot training had “gone backwards” after he had instructed an improvement to RAF top brass.
UK trainee pilots often wait for years in a pipeline plagued by reliability issues with the Hawk trainer jets, among other issues. Released information revealed an average a gap of 68 weeks between completing Basic Flying Training and beginning Advanced Fast Jet Training for RAF pilots.
The former head of the RAF, Air Chief Marshall Richard Knighton, was appointed Chief of the Defence Staff following the departure of previous incumbent Admiral Tony Radakin in September 2025.
