It isn't just a new Advanced Jet Trainer that Britain (still) needs.

Those who know EllisJames Creative will no doubt be aware of our longstanding work supporting AERALIS. One of the likely reasons you being aware of this is because I proudly told you so.

As a lifelong aviation enthusiast, and son of a father who served with the Navy at the peak of Britain’s Fleet Air Arm strength (and latterly with BAe at Filton), the idea that I would come to work so closely, and be asked to contribute to such a diverse range of elements of the AERALIS programme was truly incredible.

Our introduction to AERALIS came five years ago at a time when the company and programme was revving up and starting to seek engagement with investors, ministries of defence, future partners, and – for those air forces with the appropriate foresight – respond to RFIs for future advanced jet trainer replacements. In the years since, myself and my team at EllisJames Creative provided branding development, social media support, exhibition stand design, 3D modelling and animation, bid graphics, aircraft livery design and a whole host of other services, working directly with the company's founder, Tristan Crawford, and his executive team.

There have been so many comments made about AERALIS over the years, but much to my acute disappointment as a proud Brit, the vast majority were cynical and derisory; as well as often ill-informed and disrespectful to the talented, experienced and deeply committed team I had the pleasure of engaging with and working alongside.

I often wonder how different AERALIS might have been received as an American programme by American audiences.

A high-risk 'PowerPoint aircraft'..?

The constant trope that was regurgitated time and again was that AERALIS was a ‘Powerpoint aircraft’: something that lived in theory alone, and therefore unworthy of serious consideration. Compared to what, I would ask; the non-existent British alternative that the RAF has ready to go?

The other stone oft lobbed at AERALIS was that it was ‘high risk’. This one really gets under the skin, because, and I’m not going to pull my punches here, it sounds pathetic. The idea that we would shy away from innovation and opportunity because there was risk involved sounds so spineless, it’s no wonder the UK has never produced an Amazon, Apple or Netflix, Alphabet, Meta or Microsoft.

Britain is simply not a ‘big ideas’ country, much as it pains me to say it.

AERALIS was a company created by people with proper credentials, including ex-senior ranking members of the RAF, UK government and the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers. They saw and acknowledged a growing problem that successive governments have been brushing under the carpet for decades. They took huge risk and committed themselves to solving a legacy issue with pragmatic – but novel – thinking that could have delivered a significant win-win for the RAF, for the economy, for the future of aerospace in the UK, and for Britain’s geo-political influence.

The UK's bottom lip may have trembled at the ‘risk’ AERALIS presented, but Qatar’s didn’t. Nor France, or, actually, a plethora of suppliers across the country keen to be part of an exciting new homegrown aircraft that they envisaged being sold to other countries.

Imagine that – the UK selling something to someone else for a change.

In 2022, AERALIS invited me to join them in Doha, to see the stand and aircraft liveries we created for DIMDEX.

Familiar territory for the UK

So instead, we’re back to territory very familiar to the UK. When faced with opportunity, if there’s a lose-lose alternative, you can be sure the UK will find it; scrabbling for options that aren’t a compromise, overly costly or embarrassing. And guess what – no such options exist.

• We’ll be buying another Boeing aircraft (and no disrespect to Boeing, but the T-7 is hugely over-budget and has significant issues, which will delay it getting in the hands of its own domestic air force, let alone late-to-the-table customers like the UK – which sounds, well, quite a ‘risky’ situation to me).

• The Red Arrows will probably be renamed as the ‘British Aerospace Memorial Flight’, as we continue to celebrate our past successes rather than show off our daring and world-leading invention.

• We will have demonstrated once again that Britain doesn’t really have the back of its visionaries, entrepreneurs and risk-takers.

• And in a world where industrial agility - such as that exemplified by Ukraine - is a potent military deterrent, we will have been shown wanting and vulnerable.

So, to AERALIS, thank you all so very much for the great work we did together and your generosity over the years. It was a true privilege of my career.

And to all those nay-sayers who revelled in playing Devil’s Advocate, no successful innovation ever started with the words: “It won’t work.”

Britain needs balls and it needs belief.

All opinions are my own.