CONFIDENTIAL
outstrips capacity, and this situation is likely to
continue. Any significant decrease in capacity on these courses will be detrimental to our objectives.
c. The fluctuating and largely unpredictable demands of
the DESO are already causing difficulties in the
Services. DESO predicts that the recent high level of
sales of defence equipment will continue. Further, they consider that related training and support packages will
continue to be critical factors in the successful outcome
of most sales efforts. Any further decrease in training
capacity would therefore aggravate detriment to the Services and could harm export sales.
6. The National Audit Office have noted in their recent
report on Service Training that only some 83% of planned service trainee days are actually achieved. While this might
suggest that there is scope for improving the productivity of the training machine, it would be misleading to assume that
the outstanding 17% could be used for F&C training, since the areas in which the shortfall occurred, notice of availability
and the circumstances surrounding the under-utilization need
to be taken into account. The range of courses in which F&C students participate is relatively narrow when compared with
the spectrum of training activity, and capacity on irrelevant
courses is of no use to F&C training staffs.
7. It should be noted that while many overseas students take up places on courses planned to meet UK requirements, there
are countries (including some which are targeted for
assistance) whose armed forces are insufficiently sophisticated to benefit from courses designed for UK
servicemen or whose equipment differs from that in current
British use. This applies particularly to some of the smaller forces, whose training needs are best met by dedicated
courses.
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G-3 CONFIDENTIAL