Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the youngest military service of the United Kingdom; the RAF and Women's Royal Air Force were formed on 1 Apr 1918.

Current operations

RAF units are both permanently and temporarily assigned to locations worldwide.

Locations

Permanent deployments include:

• UK Air Defence
• Gibraltar
• Ascension Island
• Falkland Islands
• Cyprus
• Nevada (joint training facility in the United States

Major temporary operations include:

• Operation Telic (Iraq)
• Operation Herrick (Afghanistan)
• United States Central Command, Tampa, Florida
• Balkans
• Sierra Leone
• Diego Garcia
• Persian Gulf
• Georgia
• Sudan

Offensive

The RAF operates two series of Harrier (fighter) STOVL (short takeoff and vertical landing) aircraft, from both land and sea bases. It also uses the GR4 version of the Tornado (fighter) for strike missions.