Royal Air Force Waddington otherwise known as RAF Waddington is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located beside the village of Waddington, 4.2 miles (6.8 km) south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire in England.
Royal Air Force Digby otherwise known as RAF Digby is a Royal Air Force station located near Scopwick and 11.6 mi (18.7 km) south east of Lincoln, in Lincolnshire, England. The station is home to the tri-service Joint Service Signals Organisation, part of the Joint Forces Intelligence Group of Joint Forces Command. Other units include the RAF Aerial Erector School, No. 54 Signals Unit and No. 591 Signals Unit.
ISTAR stands for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. In its macroscopic sense, ISTAR is a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employing its sensors and managing the information they gather.
Number 31 Squadron, known as the Goldstars, was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. The Squadron lays claim to being the first military unit to fly in India, where it was based from 1915 to 1947. Throughout the Cold War, No. 31 Squadron was based in West Germany, flying from RAF Laarbruch and RAF Brüggen. Between September 1984 and March 2019, the Goldstars operated the Panavia Tornado GR1/4, initially from RAF Brüggen and after August 2001 from RAF Marham, Norfolk. No. 31 Squadron was disbanded on 14 March 2019 at RAF Marham and will reform in Summer 2023 at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, eventually operating the General Atomics Protector RG1 by 2024.
Number 54 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. On 1 September 2005, it took on the role of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Operational Conversion Unit, and is currently responsible for training all RAF crews assigned to the MQ-9A Reaper, Shadow R1/R2, RC-135W Rivet Joint and Poseidon MRA1. It also controls the RAF ISR Warfare School (ISRWS) who run the Qualified Weapons Instructor Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance and QWI Reaper Courses.
No. 249 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron, active in the sea-patrol, fighter and bomber roles during its existence. It was one of the top scoring fighter squadrons of the RAF in World War II.
No. 1 Group of the Royal Air Force is one of the two operations groups in RAF Air Command. Today, the group is referred to as the Air Combat Group, as it controls the RAF's combat fast-jet aircraft and has airfields in the UK, as well as RAF Support Unit Goose Bay in Canada. The group headquarters is located alongside Headquarters Air Command at RAF High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The other operational group is No. 2 Group RAF.
Intelligence services in the Royal Air Force are delivered by Officers of the Royal Air Force Intelligence Branch and Airmen from the Intelligence Analyst Trade and Intelligence Analyst (Voice) Trade. The specialisation has around 1,200 personnel of all ranks posted to operational air stations, HQs and other establishments of the British Armed Forces, both in the United Kingdom and overseas.
No. 310 Squadron RAF was a Czechoslovak-manned fighter squadron of the Royal Air Force in the Second World War.
The Tactical Police Squadron (TPS) is a group of around 150 regular and 50 reservist (RAuxAF) Royal Air Force Police with its headquarters at RAF Honington in Suffolk, England. The reservists comprise No 3 Police Squadron.
Qualified Weapons Instructor (QWI) (queue-why) is a qualification given to graduates of the Royal Air Force or Royal Navy Qualified Weapons Instructor courses. It is the equivalent to the United States Air Force Weapons School Course or US Navy's Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center warfare schools . Graduates of a QWI course are entitled to wear a QWI 'patch' on their flying suit or combat uniform, which denotes their status as an expert practitioner in their warfare specialty or platform. While QWI, TOPGUN and the United States Air Force Weapons School were traditionally associated with the employment of kinetic weapons and with historical origins in the combat aircraft community, modern warfare experts recognize that kinetic and non-kinetic weapons systems are critical in current and future combat engagements. This is reflected in the expansion of the respective warfare schools over the past two decades Recognizing this, the RAF has recently expanded the QWI qualification to included several non-kinetic fields and now strives to achieve Full Spectrum Warfare through effects based warfare. QWI is not to be confused with QFI Qualified Flying Instructor which is a non-tactical qualification.
The No.3 Squadron (Cobras) of the Indian Air Force (IAF) operates as a Close Air Support (CAS) and reconnaissance unit. Currently based at Air Force Station NAL, No. 3 Sqn falls under the Western Air Command, forms the 46 wing of the IAF.
Tactical Imagery-Intelligence Wing (TIW) was a 1 Group Force Element, based at RAF Marham.
Sherdils is the aerobatics display team of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) & Royal Pakistan Air Scouts (RPAS). The Sherdils are based at the Pakistan Air Force Academy, Risalpur, Pakistan and consist of nine Karakoram K-8P aircraft.
No. 616 Squadron is an active Reserve unit of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF) assigned to the RAF ISTAR Force at RAF Waddington. It was originally formed as a unit of the British Auxiliary Air Force in 1938, active throughout World War 2 as a fighter unit, becoming the 1st operational RAF unit to fly jets and disbanded in 1957. The unit reformed in its current guise in April 2019 as 616 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force.
No. 7010 (VR) Photographic Interpretation Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force is a unit of the British Royal Air Force. It was founded in April 1953 as No. 7010 Flight, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, to provide strategic imagery analysis support to the Royal Air Force. In 1965 the flight expanded its role to include tactical imagery analysis. In August 1982, Her Majesty The Queen approved the issue of a badge to the flight. In allusion to the unit's role, the emblem of a human eye is portrayed with a wing embellishment and set in front of a roundel. The motto Vocati Veniemus may be freely translated as "when summoned we shall be there". The collapse of the Warsaw Pact resulted in a large reduction of NATO forces in central Europe. In turn this has led to a major reduction in, and reorganisation of, the United Kingdom's regular and reserve forces. Within this overall plan for defence, No. 7010 Flight became No. 7010 (VR) Photographic Interpretation Squadron.
The United States Air Force's 497th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group is an intelligence unit located at Joint Base Langley–Eustis, Virginia.
The United States Air Force's 373d Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group is a Twenty-Fifth Air Force unit located at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
5 Regiment Army Air Corps is a regiment of the British Army and is part of the Joint Helicopter Command (JHC). The regiment is based in Northern Ireland at JHC Flying Station Aldergrove.
This is the structure of the Royal Air Force, as of October 2020.
United Kingdom 
Royal Air Force 
