More about this squadron

7630 Intelligence Squadron provides Reservists for information and intelligence-gathering tasks to support operations. Much of this intelligence is gathered through interviewing and debriefing both UK and foreign nationals, with the aid of an interpreter.

We work closely with our sister units in the Royal Naval Reserve and the Territorial Army as well as with regular personnel in all three Services. Every year we take part in training with our Regular and Reservist colleagues as this helps to overcome any differences between the Services. It also gets us used to working with personnel outside of our squadron, as we are likely to be working alongside them when we are deployed on operations.

History and heritage

Our squadron started life in 1958 as 7630 Flight RAF Volunteer Reserves and was formed to provide a pool of Russian linguists for intelligence duties. In 1972, the unit moved on from a purely linguistic role to providing information officers for intelligence analysis and briefings on major NATO exercises. This development saw the first non-linguists employed.

In 1986, a dedicated Volunteer Reserves Intelligence Unit (7006 Flight RAF Volunteer Reserves) was created at RAF High Wycombe.

Following the amalgamation of the Reserves and Volunteer Reserves in 1997, 7630 Flight became the squadron as we know it today. We are now headquartered with the other RAF Reserves intelligence squadrons at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, although our operating base is at the Intelligence Corps Headquarters at Chicksands in Bedfordshire.

Roles and specialist skills

As an intelligence analyst working as a ‘debriefer’, you will be part of a small team of military Regulars and Reservists. You will be interviewing and obtaining information that is fed back to Intelligence Officers and used to help to build up the overall intelligence picture.

Recent deployments

Since 2003, over 50 per cent of our Reservists have been deployed in support of Operation Telic in Iraq or Operation Herrick in Afghanistan, for tours of four to six months. Our Reservists are currently preparing to be deployed to support ongoing overseas operations.

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