The Royal Air Force No 22 (Training) Group exists to recruit RAF personnel and provide trained specialist personnel to the RAF and the other two Services (such as providing the Army Air Corps with trained Helicopter pilots).

With an annual budget of some £435 milliion (excluding service pay) we have a staff of over 7,500 with an annual through put of around 55,000 trainees. We operate around 450 training aircraft across 8 major sites in the UK and many more smaller centres. Download a map of our key locations

In addition, the Head of No 22 (Training) Group - in his role of Chief of Staff Training - is responsible for ‘through-life' training for RAF personnel.

Our Mission

To underpin the military effectiveness of the RAF and the other Services by timely provision of appropriately trained military and civilian personnel.

End State

An organisation that delivers mentally and physically robust individuals with a war-fighting specialist mentality ready to integrate into front-line duties.

Our Functions

The following are our primary functions:

• We recruit and select individuals to join the Royal Air Force
• We run the Air Cadets Organization (ACO)
• We provide the Initial Training to RAF Officers at the Royal Air Force College at RAF Cranwell and Basic Training for airmen and airwomen at RAF Halton
• We provide specialist joint training to personnel from all three Services mainly in the following areas:
• Aeronautical Engineering training
• Communications and Information Systems training
• Electro-Mechanical-Engineering training
• Flying training for all types of aircraft (rotary wing, fast jet, multi-engine aircraft).
• We operate the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team (RAFAT), better known as The Red Arrows.

For more information about how we are structured, please see our Organisation page.