InsideAIR

They're the RAF's operational hub, they make critical decisions at pace, and they balance global commitments with Air Defence of the UK. They are 11 Group. This week, InsideAIR speaks with Air Vice-Marshal Steve Kilvington, Air Officer Commanding 11 Group, the person responsible for driving operational thinking across the Royal Air Force.
InsideAIR is produced for the Royal Air Force by RAF Media Reserves. Theme music by RAF Music Services.

In this episode of InsideAIR, we're heading to one of the most important military locations in the Pacific, Hawaii, for Exercise RIMPAC 2026.

Every other year, the island of Hawaii hosts a huge exercise with personnel from more than 30 nations working together across the air, sea and land domains. A multinational exercise like RIMPAC takes a significant amount of planning and preperation, as InsideAIR's Squadron Leader Amy Casey discovered when she joined some of those taking part.

In this episode, we'll catch up with the meteorologists from the Mobile Met Unit to find out about their work and we'll hear how military met forecasting came into being.

Flt Lt Chris Sully chats to a current forecaster about the support they offer for operations and planning and we hear about arguably the most important forecast in history ahead of the release of a film telling the story in the lead up to D-Day.

Since we last caught up, the Defence Investment Plan, or DIP, has been published, focussing on the move toward the RAF becoming Europe's first sixth-generation air force. Technology will be front & centre of the future RAF and with that comes even closer ties with our industry & research partners.

Amongst those partners is the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory, known as DSTL, and in this episode of InsideAIR, Flight Lieutenant Chris Sully goes behind the wire at their Porton Down Base in Wiltshire to see how that might look.

In this episode we'll hear about a unique presentation of a bronze Employer Recognition Scheme award which took place 20,000 feet above the ground on an easyJet flight from Luton to Jersey

The Employer Recognition Scheme is an MOD initiative to encourage and recognise companies which demonstrate an outstanding commitment to supporting serving personnel, reservists, veterans and military families. Recently easyJet earned bronze status and the presentation took place onboard one of their flights, piloted by RAF Reservists and fulltime commercial pilots. Sqn Ldr Lesley Woods joined the flight from Luton Airport