DEFENCE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING (CRANWELL) TRAINING ENGINEER OFFICERS FOR THE RAF

Wing Commander Simon Haywood

Officer Commanding Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering (Cranwell)

DEFENCE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING (CRANWELL)

DCAE (Cranwell)’s main task is to provide Phase 2 initial specialist training for all RAF Engineer Officers, and to prepare them to take up their first productive appointments. In addition, DCAE (Cranwell) supports specialist engineering courses and elements of the Defence College of Logistics and Personnel Administration (DCLPA), which includes the Intermediate Logistics Management Course (ILMC), the Air Logistics Staff Course (ALSC), the SO1/SO2 Forward Commanders Course and the Defence Logistics Managers’ Course.

ENGINEER OFFICER FOUNDATION TRAINING (EOFT) COURSES

The RAF Engineer Branch is divided into 2 distinct specialisations: Aerosystems (AS) and Communications-Electronics (CE). Engineer Officers of both specialisations are essential to provide commanders with the engineering effort needed to produce, deploy and deliver Air Power in the operational environment. Equipping future Engineer Officers to meet those challenges means that students need to study not only technical subjects with regards to their chosen speciality, but also a great deal of leadership, management, personnel management and general Service topics. Although both specialisations share the word ‘engineer’ in their titles and use many of the same philosophies, the AS and CE specialisations carry out considerably different tasks with the exception of some core policy and leadership/management elements.

Therefore, and with respect to Engineer Officer training, DCAE (Cranwell) operates 2 separate EOFT courses with some common policy and leadership/management elements. Both courses have been designed to provide the Engineer Officers of the future with the skills, knowledge and attitudes that they will need to undertake their first 2 productive (or Foundation) tours in their respective specialisation that will prepare them for subsequent appointments.

EOFT TRAINING

EOFT courses follow a ‘semester’ system of 3 x 10-week terms (running concurrently with a week off between each term (see diagram below)). This system provides students with regular breaks, which in turn allows them to use their annual leave allowances whilst under training rather than arriving at their first unit with large amounts of accumulated leave. The 2 major constituent parts of the EOFT training package is the delivery of training and the assessment of the individual to test whether or not they have assimilated the training.

The AS course places an emphasis on learning, consolidating and testing through a blended learning approach. Each term aims to blend instruction in technical and management subjects with reinforcement and regular consolidation through exercises and tutorials. The latest concepts of problem-based learning have been adopted to enable the students to develop their technical and people-skills in parallel, and to try out and refine these skills in increasingly complex scenarios to present students with simulated challenges as close as possible to those they will encounter in their Foundation tours.

The leadership and management elements of EOFT are common for officers destined for either the AS or CE specialisations of the Engineer Branch, but each course concentrates on delivering its own range of technical subjects, whether aerodynamics, airframes, engines, avionics, electrics, materials, electro-optics and weapons for AS students. The aim is to train officers, already qualified to HND or more likely degree level in an engineering discipline, how to use their professional skills and knowledge to support and manage the RAF’s equipment.

Responding to student feedback, there is a great deal of interaction between students and the JNCOs/SNCOs on the staff at DCAE (Cranwell). This serves 2 purposes: primarily it highlights to students the expertise and capabilities that they can expect of their subordinates, and as a secondary benefit, it provides the students (who are potential leaders of some of the largest sections, flights and squadrons in the RAF) the opportunity to practice and develop styles of leadership and personnel management in a relatively benign environment.

In addition to the subjects detailed above; to ensure that the end product, i.e. the Engineer Officer is able to reach ‘Combat Ready Status’ as soon as possible following graduation from DCAE (Cranwell), both engineering streams are required to undertake Force Development Activities, the RAF Fitness Test and complete integrated courses that include: Quality, HASW, Civilian Mgt and the Laser Safety Officers Course.

ASSESSMENT

Ultimately a range of assessments have to be carried out to ascertain whether or not the students have the ability to successfully apply the training they have been given. As with many Phase 2 specialist training modules, the students’ performance is constantly monitored and EOFT students are formally assessed against the 10 performance attributes used in the annual appraisals process for Commissioned Officers in all 3 Services, ie Leadership, Professional Effectiveness, Effective Intelligence, Judgement, Management, Initiative, Reliability, Powers of Communication, Subordinate Development and Courage & Values. AS Students undertake a 2-day assessment ‘carousel’ at the end of Term 1, a 4-day situational exercise in Term 2 and a final 3-week assessment within Term 3.

Set during weeks 24-26, the Term 3 assessment consolidates all of the elements of the training in an assessment exercise. The AS students operate and support a squadron of 5 Jaguar aircraft, carrying out all the tasks necessary to maintain and operate and deploy the aircraft.

THE FINAL HURDLE

The final hurdle that the students face is an oral examination board with OC DCAE (Cranwell), a wing commander who has overall responsibility for the students’ training, and the respective AS Course Manager, who is an officer of squadron leader rank. The interview allows students of both specialisations to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding and allows the board to decide whether the students have gained the level of competence and overall ability to be credible and effective Engineer Officers within just a few weeks of the interview being held. Specifically for the AS students, the interview is also a representation of what they can expect to face with their future Officer Commanding Forward Support Wing or Depth Support Wing to assess their competence to accept faults that limit an aircraft’s capability and/or to defer aircraft maintenance.

FOUNDATION TOURS

Following graduation from DCAE (Cranwell), Engineer Officers will move to their first unit and undertake a productive appointment, which will be the first of 2 ‘Foundation’ appointments that will allow them to effectively consolidate their training as an Engineer Officer. During this time, it is expected that he or she will gain a solid engineering foundation that should include:

• A War fighting and Operational Focus – through early employment in war fighting organisations.

• Leadership – through relevant flight commander tours.

• Service Ethos (understanding the air perspective of military operations) – through employment in core air activity.

• Professionalism – through employment in core Engineer Branch activities.

Whilst not all initial tours contain each of the requirements above, any deficient areas will be embraced during subsequent tours.

SPECIALIST COURSES

Aircraft Structural Integrity Course

The Aircraft Structural Integrity Course (ASIC) provides officers, SNCOs and MOD civilians employed in aircraft engineering posts with a synopsis of the current methods available to achieve and maintain aircraft structural integrity. The course is sponsored by the Head of Air Vehicle Integrity, Defence Equipment and Support.

The 2½ day-course is held at RAF Wyton or MOD Abbeywood and covers both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. Lectures are given by representatives from DE&S, DCAE, QinetiQ, BAE Systems and Agusta Westland. Topics covered include structural integrity management, aerospace materials, airworthiness requirements, design requirements and qualification, structural monitoring, non-destructive testing, ageing aircraft, structural sampling and teardown, aircraft repair, SI strategy and future policy.

Propulsion Integrity Course

The Propulsion Integrity Course (PIC) provides officers, SNCOs and MOD civilians from the engine community EAs and IPTs with a more in-depth understanding of the principles of aero-engine lifing and other aspects of propulsion integrity. The course is sponsored by the Head of Propulsion Systems Integrity, Defence Equipment & Support.

The 2-day course is held at DCAE Cranwell. Lectures are given by representatives from DE&S, DCAE and Rolls-Royce plc. Topics covered include life management plans, critical and non-critical components, materials and failure mechanisms, damage under complex loading, lifing statistics, fatigue testing and service samples, health and usage monitoring, exchange rate calculation, safety and risk management, and future policy.

FURTHER INFORMATION

If you require further information on becoming an RAF Engineer Officer, please contact your local Armed Forces Careers Office at RAF Careers