Larger Royal Navy submariners ‘need wider escape hatches’ – and fast jets on HMS Queen Elizabeth already have modified ejector seats for heavier pilots
That’s the view of Lord McColl of Dulwich, a consultant surgeon, who has raised his concerns about overweight service personnel.
The Tory peer said Britain’s latest fighter jets have already had their ejector seats modified to support heavier pilots.
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Hide AdNow he has questioned whether additional measures should be taken by the Senior Service to make life easier for heftier personnel.
Speaking in the House of Lords, Lord McColl said: ‘By far and away the most serious eating disorder is the obesity epidemic which is now impinging upon the armed forces.
‘Ejector seats in fighter planes are having to be modified because of obesity.
‘We may have to enlarge the escape hatches of submarines to allow (people to get out).’
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Hide AdBritain’s F-35B jets have been fitted with super-boosted ejector seats as pilots have grown heavier over the years.
The change was revealed following an investigation by the Telegraph, which reported that each seat was capable of ejecting a person weighing almost 18 stone.
Previously, an RAF survey last year found 4,272 personnel were classed as clinically obese, the highest level ever recorded.
Health minister Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford said: ‘While I don't feel able to comment on ejector seats or submarine hatches... I do believe that obesity is a serious issue.’
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Hide AdShe added that eating disorders, generally, were ‘life-threatening conditions’ and should be the ‘priority’ of the government to tackle.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said that fitness standards in the Royal Navy had been maintained and there was no need, or plan, to increase the size of hatches on submarines as a result of personnel issues.