RAF Strike Command
The Royal Air Force's Strike Command was the military formation which controlled the majority of the United Kingdom's bomber and fighter aircraft from 1968 until 2007 when it merged with Personnel and Training Command to form the single Air Command. It latterly consisted of two formations – No. 1 Group RAF and No. 2 Group RAF. The last Commander-in-Chief was Air Chief Marshal Sir Joe French. History. Strike Command was formed on 30 April 1968 by the merger of Bomber Command and Fighter Command, which became No. 1 Group and No. 11 Group respectively . Signals Command was absorbed on 1 January 1969, Coastal Command was absorbed on 28 November 1969, becoming No. 18 Group RAF. The former component Coastal Command groups became the Northern Maritime Air Region and Southern Maritime Air Region. Air Support Command (formerly Transport Command) was absorbed on 1 September 1972, becoming No. 46 Group RAF. NATO Role. In 1975, the Command doubled as NATO, Commander-in-Chief United Kingdom Air Forces (UKAIR). UKAIR fell under NATO's Allied Command Europe in Mons in Belgium. In case of war with the Warsaw Pact the command would have commanded all Royal Air  Force units in the United Kingdom as well as the US Air Force's Third Air Force based at RAF Mildenhall with its subordinate wings and squadrons. Reinforcements coming from the continental United States, as well as units transitioning to other European fronts, would have also come under UKAIR. Post Cold War. RAF Germany was absorbed as No. 2 (Bomber) Group on 1 April 1993. As of 1 April 2000, the structure was altered to leave No. 1 Group with tactical fast jet forces, No. 2 Group with air transport, air refueling, and reconnaissance, the RAF Regiment, and No. 32  (The Royal) Squadron RAF. No. 3 Group was to include Nimrod long-range Maritime Patrol aircraft, Search and rescue helicopters, and the Joint Force 2000, later to become Joint Force Harrier. Flag Officer Naval Aviation moved over to command No. 3 Group, the first incumbent becoming Rear Admiral Iain Henderson. "At the core of the structure [were] to be the central air staffs, responsible to Deputy Chief of Staff Operations for air power, ongoing opeations, joint training, and force development." The Air Warfare Centre at Waddington and the Military Air Traffic Organisation at Uxbridge also joined Strike Command. The RAF 's Process and Organisation Review concluded that Strike Command and Personnel and Training Command should be co-located at a single command headquarters: it was subsequently decided that both commands should be located at High Wycombe and in 2007 Strike Command and Personnel and Training Command were merged into a single command – Air Command. Structure. Headquarters Strike Command (often abbreviated to HQSTC) was located at RAF High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. The Command was divided into a number of Groups, which at first reflected the function of the old Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Command. Subsequent reorganisations changed things greatly and before  the final reorganization, the two Groups which made up Strike Command were: Component groups of Strike Command included: Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief. Air Officers Commanding-in-Chief included: |- External links.