Your Career Prospects
You will join the RAF on an initial commission of 12 years and may be selected to continue your service on a pension earning commission of 20 years ’ service or to age 40 , whichever is the later .
Promotion to the rank of Flight Lieutenant is on a time served / satisfactory service basis after 3½ years from completing ( M ) IOT . Further promotion to Squadron Leader and above is by competitive selection .
On-going Development
Subsequent tours of duty may see you being employed in a wide variety of areas , including :
• One of the other areas of the Air Operations ( Control ) officer
• specialisations .
• As ‘ Mission Crew ’ on the E-7 Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning
• aircraft based at RAF Lossiemouth .
• Part of the UK ’ s deployable , ground based , command and control unit ‘ Number 1 Air Control Centre ’ located at RAF Boulmer .
• Tactical ATC – high readiness small teams who deploy ahead of the main force to set up landing zones and airfields worldwide .
• Instructing ab-initio and postgraduate students .
You may also be selected for advancement to higher management roles , responsible for leading large teams of fellow officers and aviators . Throughout your career , you should expect operational deployments ( generally of up to but not limited to 6 months duration ) to a range of locations worldwide , together with ad-hoc shorter detachments to such locations as Cyprus , Lithuania , Gibraltar , Canada , Spain , the United Arab Emirates , Malaysia and the US . The RAF also has a variety of exchange opportunities which include instructing the US Marine Corps in Arizona ; the US Air Force Space Command in Colorado and the Royal Norwegian Air Force .
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