RAF Air Command

Air Command is the only Command currently active in the Royal Air Force. It was formed by the merger of Royal Air Force Strike and Personnel and Training commands on 1 April 2007, and has its headquarters at RAF High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

The equivalent in the Royal Navy is Navy Command Headquarters at Portsmouth and the equivalent in the British Army is Army Headquarters at Andover.

History

Air Command was formed by the merger of Royal Air Force Strike and Personnel and Training commands on 1 April 2007. Initially, it was under a four-star Air Chief Marshal, Commander-in-Chief, Air Command. At that time, there were two Deputy Commanders of Air Marshal rank: the Deputy Commander-in-Chief (Personnel) and the Deputy Commander-in-Chief (Operations).

Following the implementation of the 2011 Levene Report, the role of Commander-in-Chief, Air Command was discontinued in spring 2012, and the deputy commanders started to report direct to the Chief of the Air Staff. In November 2018, No. 11 Group was formed to create a "multi-domain operations group" as part of RAF Command.

Organisation

RAF Air Command is led by the Chief of the Air Staff under whom responsibilities are split as follows:

Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, responsible for personnel matters (including No. 22 (Training) Group)
Air and Space Commander, responsible for air and space operations (including No. 1 Group, No. 2 Group and No. 11 Group)

Commanders-in-Chief (post discontinued in Spring 2012)

Air Chief Marshal Sir Clive Loader KCB OBE, 30 March 2007 – 2 April 2009 (appointed as C-in-C Strike Command)
Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Moran KCB OBE MVO, 3 April 2009 – 26 May 2010 (Died in office)
Air Chief Marshal Sir Simon Bryant KCB CBE, 18 June 2010 to March 2012