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