RAF Regiment

The Royal Air Force Regiment
Badge of the RAF Regiment
Active	1 February 1942 – present
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Type	Air Force Security Forces[1]
Role	Force protection
Size	1,850[2] regulars (2021), 570 reserves (2016)
Part of	No. 2 Group, Air Command
Garrison/HQ	Depot: RAF Honington
Nickname(s)	"The Rock Apes"; "Rocks"
Motto(s)	Per Ardua (Latin for "Through Adversity")[3] (Individual squadrons also have their own motto.)
March	Quick: Holyrood Slow: Centurion
Commanders
Commandant-General	Air Vice-Marshal Michael Smeath[4]
Honorary Air Commodore	Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton
Air Commodore-in-Chief	The King
Insignia
Tactical Recognition Flash
Shoulder Flash

The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by Royal Warrant in 1942, the Corps carries out basic soldiering and security tasks relating to the [protection of] delivery of air power. Examples of such tasks are non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO), recovery of downed aircrew (joint personnel recovery – JPR), defence of airfields by way of aggressively patrolling and actively seeking out infiltrators in a large area surrounding airfields. The key tenet of the RAF Regiments role is based around defensive security operations,^[5] rather than the Army’s more traditional offensive infantry role, which is to close with and kill the enemy; notwithstanding, this does require active patrolling just outside the Airfield perimeter. In addition the RAF Regiment provides Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs) to the British Army in the Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) role, and provides a very small (flight size) commitment to the Special Forces Support Group as Tactical air controllers and some CBRN specialists.^[6]

The RAF Regiment Gunners are personnel trained in various disciplines such as infantry tactics, force protection, field craft, sniper, support to special forces operations, CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) defence, equipped with advanced vehicles and detection measures. RAF Regiment instructors are responsible for training all Royal Air Force personnel in basic force protection such as first aid, weapon handling and CBRN skills.

The regiment and its members are known within the RAF as "The Regiment", "Rock Apes" or "Rocks". After basic training at RAF Halton, and a 20-week gunner course at RAF Honington, its members are trained in defensive and security operations and equipped to prevent a successful enemy attack in the first instance; minimise the damage caused by a successful attack; and ensure that air operations can continue without delay in the aftermath of an attack.