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152activities and the reduction in the amount of flying training of foreign students that we undertake today. The key to maintaining influence is to train aircrew in the first place, because that leads to follow8on links in the form of standardisation checks, exchange tours and the like. Sadly, while we gained from this significantly in the past, we have been priced out of the market by the Treasury who have, in recent years, demanded payment in full %u2013 at a rate which many nations simply cannot afford. I recall that, when I was a QFI on Hunters at No 4 FTS, at Valley, in the early 1970s we were training Ecuadoreans, Kuwaitis, Jordanians, Malaysians, Singaporeans and Saudis. Having established those links, we were in those days able to build on that to establish long8term relationships. I think that, if we were able to persuade the Treasury to back down on the full8cost the political influence gained would outweigh the loss in revenue. 3B%u0006%u0009(B%u0016%u0006%u0013%u0014%u0006%u0017+%u0017)?%u0006%u0006If I could just pick8up on that. I fly with the AirExperience Flight at Wyton which gives me some insight into the current flying training system and there has been a regular, if small, stream of Iraqi and Kuwaiti aircrew passing through, destined specifically for multi8engined training at Cranwell, so the stream hasn%u2019t completely dried up, although it is a lot smaller that in it used to be. %u0004%u001affi%u0006%u0019+(& I would underline Sir Peter%u2019s point about funding. We had a tremendous fight with the Treasury to get the Saudis into Coningsby. The initial price was simply prohibitive and, quite understandably, the Saudis declined to pay it. It required negotiation at the very highest, Prime Ministerial, level to get that sorted out. That is a sad reflection on the way that we try to do business; it is not sensible to charge twice what you need to charge %u2013 and there is much to lose. In the later 1960s I was personally involved in training Saudi pilots on the Lightning, at Coltishall. One of those pilots is now the CinC of the Royal Saudi Air Force and he is convinced the Saudi connection with the RAF was a critical factor in the growth of his air force. %u000e%u001799%u0013%-? Defence sales is clearly a critical element in the equation. When we were able to sell Hunters and Canberras around the world in the 1950s and %u201860s, it automatically created a substantial requirement for training. Today, with foreign air forces tending to opt for F816s,

