Great Britain. Sky News: RAF stopped submitting job offers to white men

The quoted sources accused the commander of the Royal Air Force, Marshal Mike Wigston, that – in order to achieve the goals of diversity and inclusiveness – he is inclined to jeopardize the security of Great Britain at a time of growing threat from Russia and China. They also revealed that a few days ago, the RAF chief recruitment resigned in protest, who believes that any such hiring restrictions, however temporary and limited, may weaken the air force’s combat capability.

One military source cited by Sky News, recalling a recent warning from Army Commander Patrick Sanders that “the security challenges are of a similar magnitude to that of 1937,” said, “and then you see an RAF chief ready to break the force’s operational requirements. air force just to meet the diversity goals. I think you need to summon him to the defense ministry and say, “This is a defense agenda, carry it out.”

An RAF spokesman questioned these claims. – There is no recruiting pause and no new policy with regard to meeting the recruiting requirements. Commanders will not shy away from the challenges we face in building a service that attracts and recruits talent from every part of the British workforce. We are doing everything we can to encourage recruitment from under-represented groups and to ensure that we have a diverse workforce, he said.

A defense ministry spokesman, responding to a Sky News inquiry, said. – Operational efficiency is paramount and no one is lowering the standards to make it easier for someone to join the Royal Air Force. The RAF recruits for many professions and, like the rest of the armed forces, is determined to reflect the society it serves by defending it.

Sky News notes that none of the spokespersons commented on the resignation of the RAF recruiting chief.

Sky News points out that for years successive governments have required the aviation, army and navy, which white men usually went to, to improve diversity statistics, and that this goal has been advocated by the chiefs of the armed forces.

The UK Ministry of Defense has announced that it wants the percentage of women joining the armed forces to rise from the current 12% by 2030. up to 30 percent The Air Force, which is the first type of military force to allow women to fill all positions and already has the highest proportion of women, has an even higher goal. They want the recruitment rate to be 40 percent by the end of the decade – more than double the current rate. For ethnic minorities, the rate is set to rise from the current 10 percent to 20 percent.

The RAF must employ enough people in each role to be able to fulfill its operational tasks. The challenge for recruiters is that women and ethnic minorities do not usually apply for certain roles, such as in the RAF infantry that protects airports. Hiring white men to serve in it ensures that these important roles are filled, but it reduces the level of diversity.

According to military sources, RAF commanders seem to prioritize diversity over operational needs. The RAF recruiting department was effectively advised, they say, to take a break from offering jobs to white men in the hope that more jobs in the current fiscal year will be taken by women and ethnic minorities.

– We are all in favor of diversity and we want to see better representation across the ministry, but the levels of ambition for ethnic goals are absolutely insane. There is no scientific or cultural basis for these specific levels of ambition, says one source cited by Sky News. Others called the diversity goals “impossible.”