The following list of missiles of the Royal Air Force contains both current and former missiles used by the British air force:
Type | Origin | Notes | Variants |
---|---|---|---|
B28 nuclear bomb | United States | Air dropped thermonuclear weapon. In service from 1960 to 1964, carried by the English Electric Canberra, McDonnell Douglas Phantom and Vickers Valiant V Bombers. | |
B43 nuclear bomb | United States | Air dropped thermonuclear weapon. In service from 1964 to 1976, carried by the English Electric Canberra, McDonnell Douglas Phantom and Vickers Valiant. | |
B57 nuclear bomb | United States | Air dropped tactical nuclear weapon. In service from 1970 to 1991, carried by English Electric Canberra, Hawker Siddeley Nimrod and McDonnell Douglas Phantom. | |
Mark 5 nuclear bomb | United States | Air dropped nuclear bomb. In service from 1958 to 1965, carried by the Avro Vulcan. See Project E | |
Mark 7 nuclear bomb | United States | Air dropped tactical nuclear bomb. In service from 1958 to 1965, carried by the English Electric Canberra | |
Blue Danube | United Kingdom | Air dropped nuclear weapon. In service from 1953 to 1962, carried by the Avro Vulcan, Handley Page Victor and Vickers Valiant. | |
Red Beard | United Kingdom | Free-fall tactical nuclear weapon. In service from 1961 to 1971, carried by the English Electric Canberra, Handley Page Victor, Hawker Siddeley Nimrod and Avro Vulcan. | Red Beard Mk 1, Red Beard Mk 2 |
Red Snow | United Kingdom | Thermonuclear warhead | |
Violet Club | United Kingdom | Air dropped nuclear weapon. In service from 1958 to 1960, carried by the Avro Vulcan. | |
W.65, Mk Lulu | United States | Air dropped nuclear depth charge. In service from 1965 to 1971. Carried by the Avro Shackleton and Hawker Siddeley Nimrod. | |
WE.177 | United Kingdom | Free-fall gravity nuclear bomb. In service from 1969 to 1998, carried by the Avro Shackleton, Avro Vulcan, Blackburn Buccaneer, English Electric Canberra, Handley Page Victor, SEPECAT Jaguar, Panavia Tornado. | WE.177A, WE.177B, WE.177C |
Yellow Sun nuclear bomb | United Kingdom | Air dropped strategic nuclear weapon. In service from 1958 to 1972, carried Avro Vulcan and the Vickers Valiant. | Yellow Sun Mk 1, Yellow Sun Mk 2 |
Avro Blue Steel | United Kingdom | Air-launched, rocket-propelled stand-off missile. In service from 1963 to 1970, carried by the Avro Vulcan and Handley Page Victor. | |
Douglas Thor | United States | Land-based Intermediate-range ballistic missile. In service from 1958 to 1963. See Project Emily | PGM-17A Thor |
The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod is a retired maritime patrol aircraft developed and operated by the United Kingdom. It was an extensive modification of the de Havilland Comet, the world's first operational jet airliner. It was originally designed by de Havilland's successor firm, Hawker Siddeley; further development and maintenance work was undertaken by Hawker Siddeley's own successor companies, British Aerospace and, later, BAE Systems.
British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer that was formed in 1977. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. It purchased Marconi Electronic Systems, the defence electronics and naval shipbuilding subsidiary of the General Electric Company, in 1999 to form BAE Systems.
The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 1960. Bristol, English Electric and Vickers became "parents" of BAC with shareholdings of 20%, 40% and 40% respectively. BAC in turn acquired the share capital of their aviation interests and 70% of Hunting Aircraft several months later.
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, supersonic, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo that conducts the majority of the project through a joint holding company, Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH. The NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency, representing the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, manages the project and is the prime customer.
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multi-role combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (interdictor/strike) fighter-bomber, the Tornado ECR SEAD aircraft and the Tornado ADV interceptor aircraft.
The Panavia Tornado Air Defence Variant (ADV) is a long-range, twin-engine swing-wing interceptor aircraft developed by the European Panavia Aircraft GmbH consortium. It was a specialised derivative of the multirole Panavia Tornado.
No. 1435 Flight Royal Air Force, commonly abbreviated 1435 Flt, is an independent aircraft flight of the Royal Air Force (RAF). Currently operating the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, it is based at RAF Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands. Its role is to provide air defence for the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Four aircraft are permanently based in the islands, whilst their pilots and groundcrew are cycled through No. 1435 Flight from the various Typhoon squadrons in the United Kingdom, providing a 24-hour, 365-day quick reaction alert (QRA) role.
Brimstone is a ground or air-launched ground attack missile developed by MBDA UK for the UK's Royal Air Force. It was originally intended for "fire-and-forget" use against mass formations of enemy armour, using a millimetre wave (mmW) active radar homing seeker to ensure accuracy even against moving targets. Experience in Afghanistan led to the addition of laser guidance in the dual-mode Brimstone missile, allowing a "spotter" to pick out specific and the highest priority targets, particularly useful to minimise collateral damage when friendly forces or civilians were in the area. The tandem shaped-charge warhead is much more effective against modern tanks than older similar weapons such as the AGM-65G Maverick missile. Three Brimstones are carried on a launcher that occupies a single weapon station, allowing a single aircraft to carry many missiles.
Number 3 Squadron, also known as No. 3 (Fighter) Squadron, of the Royal Air Force operates the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, since reforming on 1 April 2006. It was first formed on 13 May 1912 as one of the first squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps – being the first to fly heavier than air aircraft.
The Skyflash, or Sky Flash in marketing material, was a medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile derived from the US AIM-7 Sparrow missile and carried by Royal Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms and Tornado F3s, Italian Aeronautica Militare and Royal Saudi Air Force Tornados and Swedish Flygvapnet Saab Viggens.
Number 12 Squadron, also known as No. 12 (Bomber) Squadron and occasionally as No. XII Squadron, is a flying squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF). The squadron reformed in July 2018 as a joint RAF/Qatar Emiri Air Force squadron. It is currently based at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, and operates the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4, while temporarily integrating Qatari air and ground crews in order to provide training and support as part of the Qatari purchase of 24 Typhoons from the UK.
The National Museum of Flight is Scotland's national aviation museum, at East Fortune Airfield, just south of the village of East Fortune, Scotland. It is one of the museums within National Museums Scotland.
Paveway IV is a dual mode GPS/INS and laser-guided bomb manufactured by Raytheon UK. It is the latest iteration of the Paveway series.
A gate guardian or gate guard is a withdrawn piece of equipment, often an aircraft, armoured vehicle, artillery piece, or locomotive, mounted on a plinth and used as a static display near to and forming a symbolic display of "guarding" the main entrance to a site, especially a military base. Commonly, gate guardians outside airbases are decommissioned examples of aircraft that were once based there, or still are.
This is a list of the units, aircraft and casualties of the British air services in the Falklands War. The numbers in bold are the number of aircraft used in the war, the numbers in brackets are the number of lost aircraft. For a list of air forces from Argentina, see Argentine air forces in the Falklands War.
BAE Systems Military Air & Information is a business unit of British defence company BAE Systems responsible for the design, development, manufacture and support of fixed wing military aircraft. MAI customers include the Royal Air Force, Royal Saudi Air Force, US Navy and Indian Air Force.
The aerospace industry of the United Kingdom is the second-largest national aerospace industry in the world and the largest in Europe by turnover, with a global market share of 17% in 2019. In 2020, the industry employed 116,000 people.
The MacRobert Baronetcy, of Douneside in the County of Aberdeen, was a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 5 April 1922 for Alexander MacRobert, a self-made millionaire. He was succeeded by his eldest son Alasdair in June of that year. Tragedy struck the family again when Alasdair was killed in a flying accident in 1938, and the title passed to his younger brother Roderic. In May 1941 Roderic was killed in action whilst flying a Hawker Hurricane fighter in the Middle East, and just over a month later on 30 June 1941, the title became extinct when the youngest brother Iain, was also killed in action whilst serving with the Royal Air Force. Their mother, Rachel, Lady MacRobert (1884–1954), gave £25,000 to purchase a Short Stirling bomber, the aircraft was named MacRobert's Reply in memory of her three sons. Lady MacRobert believed that her sons had lived up to the family motto Virtutis Gloria Merces – translated as Honour is the Reward of Bravery. The MacRobert Award, which has been presented every year since 1969 by the Royal Academy of Engineering, is named in honour of Lady MacRobert.
The Jersey International Air Display is an air show which is held every year on the island of Jersey, in the Channel Islands. It normally consists of one air display and two static displays - one at the airport and one in a park in St. Helier.