Flight International - 10 April 2018

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T

he formal commemoration on
1 April of the Royal Air
Force’s centenary grabbed many
headlines in the UK and around
the world, as service officials
highlighted its proud heritage,
current diverse operational com-
mitments and future ambitions.
Its status as the world’s oldest
independent air force dates back
to 1918, when the RAF was
created in a move to counter the
threat posed by Zeppelin raids
that were being mounted by
Germany on the east coast of Eng-
land. It also acted swiftly to help
quell its foe’s Spring Offensive on
the Western Front.
Current chief of the air staff Air
Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier
notes that the service’s birth – by a
combination of the army and na-
vy’s air assets – was by no means
universally welcomed. Indeed,
some argued that “major organisa-

tional change in the middle of a

war would disrupt output”.

“That day in 1918, a vision

was brought to life: a vision that

air power was fundamentally

changing warfare,” Hillier says.

And in addition to providing

a capability which would help

the allied powers win that con-

flict, he highlights the role

played by the service’s first lead-

ers and personnel in establishing

a set of “beliefs, ethos and

institutions to survive and flour-

ish after war”.

“The founding members of the

RAF were pioneers, exploiting a

new environment and at the cut-

ting-edge of innovation and the

technology of the day,” he says.

Now totalling about 35,000 reg-

ular and reserve staff, today’s RAF

is of a different scale to its peak-

time posture of nearly 500 squad-

rons and almost one million per-

sonnel in 1943. But speaking

before a Royal Aeronautical Soci-

ety audience in London on 27

March, Hillier said: “The RAF

knows that its operating environ-

ment is all-pervasive, and its

breadth of capabilities fundamen-

tal to the success of any military

endeavour – whether that be in

the air, on land or at sea.”

Pointing to its contemporary

commitments, he notes: “We are

currently busier than we have

been for a least a generation, in the

middle of our most sustained pe-

riod of high-intensity warfighting

operations since the Second

World War.” He cites a total of 13

operations being staged in 21

countries on five continents.

PRECISION EFFECT

Operations against Daesh mili-

tants in Iraq and Syria conducted

over the past three-and-a-half

years have involved the use of

more than 3,700 precision-guid-

ed munitions, deployed by the

service’s Eurofighter Typhoon,

Panavia Tornado GR4 and re-

motely-piloted General Atomics

Aeronautical Systems MQ-

Reaper forces.

Next year will bring the retire-

ment of the RAF’s last Tornados,

after a service life spanning 36

years, and a remarkable record of

having been continuously de-

ployed on operations since 1990.

Hillier describes the type as “a

powerful demonstration of com-

bat air power: flexibility, adapta-

bility and utility across the whole

spectrum of conflict”.

He also points to the impor-

tance of the service’s manned in-

telligence, surveillance and re-

connaissance aircraft fleet, noting

that in a 10-year service life, its

Shadow R1s – mission-adapted

Beechcraft King Air 350CERs –

have spent “only a couple of

months not on operations”. Ele-

ments of its Raytheon Systems

Sentinel R1 airborne ground-sur-

veillance force have also been

continuously deployed to the

Middle East for more than 1,

days, and its Reapers have accu-

mulated more than 100,000 fly-

ing hours since service entry.

Looking to the near future, he

points to an incoming fleet of

Boeing P-8A maritime patrol air-

craft as key pending additions, in

the face of a “growing submarine

threat” from Russia.

“The post-war consensus that

has provided the basis for rules-

based international order is being

challenged and undermined,” he

says of Moscow’s recent activities.

“We must respond, collectively

with our NATO partners, to coun-

ter hostile acts by Russia against

our country, interests and values.”

Examples include a £10 mil-

lion ($14 million) investment to

reactivate an air-defence radar on

ANNIVERSARY CRAIG HOYLE LONDON

Centenary milestone propels

evolution of Royal Air Force

As it marks 100 operational years, service chief outlines plan for new-generation duties

“The founding

members of the RAF

were pioneers, at

the cutting edge

of innovation”

Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier

Chief of the air staff, Royal Air Force

Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier wants RAF 100 to inspire nation

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