The Ministry of Defence has highlighted the role of RAF Gibraltar in sustaining the UK’s posture in the western Mediterranean, setting out how the airfield supports military mobility, regional reassurance, and wider Alliance activity.
RAF Gibraltar is described as a key overseas outpost for the Cyber and Specialist Operations Command, providing air operations, logistics, and engineering support in what Walker called a “geo political European spotlight.” He outlined three core responsibilities: managing the Ministry of Defence airfield, overseeing RAF functions on the station, and ensuring personnel and families have access to welfare and community activities.
Walker said his main task is to keep the airfield ready for military and commercial use while addressing regulatory requirements. “Primarily, I manage the Ministry of Defence Gibraltar airfield, ensuring it is ready for military and commercial use and regulatory oversight findings from the Military Aviation Authority and Civil Aviation Authority are addressed,” he explained.
The airfield’s dual civil military role is presented as central to Gibraltar’s economy and to the UK’s ability to maintain a foothold in the region. According to Walker, RAF Gibraltar enables NATO, allied, and UK operations by serving as a staging point for airlift and maritime support. He noted that the Military Air Transport Fleet provides rapid movement for Royal Gibraltar Regiment personnel and supports Royal Navy vessels. He added that these routine sorties also help aircrew maintain readiness.
Community outreach features prominently in Walker’s account. He highlighted a charity run held on the airfield, stating that it attracted 400 participants and raised £5,000. He also cited a cardboard boat race that drew local families, linking such events to the station’s broader aim of building cohesion with the community.
Despite the relatively modest scale of military flight activity, Walker said that the unit remains prepared to meet shifts in operational demand. “We are prepared 24/7 to react to an increase in demand, ensuring the Cyber and Specialist Operations Command mission to be strong abroad is delivered,” he said.
The blog places RAF Gibraltar within the wider context of the 26,000 personnel assigned to the Cyber and Specialist Operations Command across more than 130 global sites. The command’s remit, as set out in the piece, spans cyber operations, intelligence, medical support, special forces, education, and Defence diplomacy.
Calling it RAF Gib, is a bit of a stretch, its an airport the RAF can use…
That said, we have two strategic facilities at either end of the Mediterranean and long may that be the case.
The UK has sovereign airbases bases straddling the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Indian Ocean.
Ascension
Mount Pleasant
Diego Garcia
Gibraltar
Akritoni
No other country in the world comes close to this level of sovereign strategic base capacity and this is what makes the UK one of the most powerful countries in the world.
As the USA found out in 1986 with operation Eldarado Canyon, bases in other peoples counties are close to useless when you want to do sovereign operations.
As carriers become increasingly expensive and vulnerable and aircraft and drones become longer ranged these bases will only grow in importance.
“There’ll always be an England,”
Brings a lump to the back of my throat.
Yep we have a base in qatar which is laregy useless as it requires qatari approval for each launch. Foreign bases are not useful unless that country is very very aligned with your objectives, e.g. american fighters launching from the UK.
The sovereign controlled airbridges these provide cannot be underestimated it essentially means the UK can intervene and be involved in the geopolitical and geostrategic picture from the high north to the Antarctic and from the western Atlantic to eastern Indian Ocean.
They are also a massive multiplier of the power of the carrier battle group if the UK invests in strategic airborne platforms.. because there are very few places apart from the pacific that a UK carrier could not be supported by large strategic MPA, ISTAR, AEW and refuelling platforms..infact the Uk should really ensure it’s got capability to send these strategic air platforms to the region the carrier is in.
Yes I agree, it’s also why it’s vital we get E7 and have a refuelling capability for it. We can have world class AWACS with the carrier anywhere west of the of Malacca and the onboard AEW capability like Crowsnest only needs to fill in any gaps.
E7 and Voyager greatly complement the Queen Elizabeth class and the F35B and the combined capabilities of all these platforms makes for a world class air power projection capability second to none.
1. Voyager cannot refuel E7 because it has no boom
2. No way only 3 E7 will be able to sustain any kind of sustained AWACS role in the Malacca strait. a lot more aircraft would be required to ensure 24/7 rotations that far
Furthermore US have a lot more bases around the world than UK so very shortsighted when you say “no other country comes close”, FYI France also has soveriegn territory across Atlantic, Med, Indian Ocean and Pacific, but I won’t pretend that France can sustain ops for the duration that far away
Suggest you read what I actually wrote. I said we need to get a refueling capability for E7.
Please point out any sovereign French territory with airbases on them in the eastern Med, south, mid and North Atlantic. I must have missed them.
sorry misread that about refeulling. my bad
France has plenty of airports and ports around the worlds for its military to freely operate
– Corsica and Toulon in the Med
– French Guiana in South Altantic
– La Martinique. St Bart, St Martin and Guadelope in Carribean
– St Pierre Miquelon (off Newfoundland) and Brest in North Atlantic
– La Reunion and Mayotte in Indian Ocean
– Djibouti in the Horn of Afica
– Frendh Polynesia, New Caldeonia and Wallis and Futuna in the Pacific
as well as air bases in Jordan and UAE – good allies but they could refuse, same for UK in Cyprus
Not correct. Gibraltar International Airport, formerly North Front Airport, is the civilian airport of Gibraltar. The runway and apron is owned by the Ministry of Defence and is and operated by the RAF as RAF Gibraltar. The Gibraltar built and owns and operates the terminal building. National Air Traffic Services (NATS) hold the contract for provision of air navigation services at the airport whilst RAF and other military operations are run by the RAF. Do please get your facts right; it is not “an airport the military can use” but a fully UK/Gibraltar owned military and civilian facility, controlled entirely by those entities.
Correct.
Im sorry, what bit of its an airport the RAF use is not factually correct, apart from absolutely minimum facilities for a small staff, that can be (and is) expanded when air bridge ops are being undertaken.
RAF Gibraltar is ‘not’ a fully functioning Airbase, it is an Airfield with a very minimal military enclave. The vast majority of it air traffic is civilian.
It is not (for example) like RAF Akrotiri, you appreciate the difference I am sure.
Gibraltar is extremely important, but let’s not pretend its anything other than a useful refueling stop with potential for other uses.
Also correct. RAF Gib staff is minimal, with I recall a Sqn leader in charge. Gibs greatest usefulness is as a monitoring site for maritime traffic via the MDC towards the southern end, access to cables and of course the naval base.
Glad to hear that. I am always on the lookout for giveaways or other ways poorly informed politicians (unwittingly one hopes) damage our interests and those of our people around the world and in Europe. We need to be of one mind.
A problem though is that part of the runway is located in the border zone handed over to Spanish control a couple of months ago. Spain and Spanish police now have complete control over all civilian and military flights in to and out of Gibraltar. They also now man the immigration desks so you can’t get on or off a plane at Gibraltar without Spanish permission (I’m not sure if that applies to military flights). Another example of Stammer’s famous “reset” with the EU, concession after concession by he UK with nothing concrete back in return.
Nope, the military flights can take off without spanish authority iirc, they just have to ‘go the long way around’ as they’re not allowed in spanish airspace.
A problem though is that part of the runway is located in the border zone handed over to Spanish control a couple of months ago. Spain and Spanish police now have complete control over all civilian and military flights in to and out of Gibraltar. They also now man the immigration desks so you can’t get on or off a plane at Gibraltar without Spanish permission (I’m not sure if that applies to military flights). Yet another example of Starmer’s famous “reset” with the EU, concession after concession by the UK with nothing concrete back in return. I believe that the latest item on the EU’s list is a £4bn payment by the UK government in order for UK companies to be allowed to submit bids in up to 35% EU defence contracts – no guarantee we will actually win any of course. [What’s the betting that the 35% becomes 50%, and the EU negotiators smile as they pocket the money and congratulate the UK negotiators on what a hard deal they drove, before moving on to the next demand, the exclusion of Rockall when calculating the UK’s EEZ.]
U fact checked you rant:
Part of the runway was handed to Spanish control months ago.
False The UK maintains full control over its military facilities, including the RAF base and runway.
Spain/Spanish police have complete control over all civilian/military flights.
False The UK retains operational autonomy over military flights. For civilian flights, there will be a dual control system.
Spanish police now man all immigration desks.
False There will be dual border control checks at the airport, conducted by both Gibraltarian and Spanish officials, in a model similar to French police at London’s St Pancras station.
Spanish permission is needed to get on or off a plane.
Partially True Spanish officials (acting as Schengen agents) can deny entry to the Schengen area if an individual doesn’t meet the rules (e.g., exceeding the 90/180-day limit), but they cannot prevent a British citizen from being returned to the UK or being dealt with by Gibraltar authorities.
The UK government must pay £4bn for UK companies to bid on EU defence contracts.
False There is no evidence in the search results of a £4bn payment for this purpose.
Defence matters are separate, and the UK has full autonomy over its military bases.
Why just make this stuff up?
Rockall exclusion is the next EU demand. False The Rockall issue is a separate, long-standing sovereignty dispute between the UK, Ireland, Denmark, and Iceland, and is not mentioned as part of the current EU-UK negotiations in the provided sources.
Thanks for fact checking,
The £4 billion he is referencing is nonsense, it was £6 billion to give the UK access to the EU defence fund and the UK has declined it. UK companies can and do still have access to bid for EU based defence contracts.
Not correct. Gibraltar International Airport, formerly North Front Airport, is the civilian airport of Gibraltar. The runway and apron is owned by the Ministry of Defence and is and operated by the RAF as RAF Gibraltar. The Gibraltar built and owns and operates the terminal building. National Air Traffic Services (NATS) hold the contract for provision of air navigation services at the airport whilst RAF and other military operations are run by the RAF. Do please get your facts right; it is not “an airport the military can use” but a fully UK/Gibraltar owned military and civilian facility, controlled entirely by those entities.
Indeed, you could get the permanent staff on a minibus mate!
It’s great strength is its location, both for the UK and NATO, should it be needed, you could easily have a detachment of Poseidon and half a dozen Thypoons operating from the Apron, without overly disturbing civilian moments.
oh …now this has just been said , when is Gib going to be handed over to Spain ?
I was gonna say, don’t bring an important military asset to public attention, Starmer will be rubbing his hands to get rid of it – at our cost, of course.
When hell freezes over 🤔
An important military asset which, at any one time, might have a cargo plane and even a couple of Typhoons, demonstrating Britain’s commitments on the cheapest shoestring budget possible.
Give it to Zelensky. We gave him everything else.
John, you sound peeved. Zelensky is using kit designed to fight the Russians, who are our continent’s and NATO’s most significant threat….to fight the Russians…without risk of British casualties.
Very well said but we should.not, perhaps, forget that Britain has sustained casualties including the murder of a British citizen and the serious injury to a British Policeman in Amesbury not long ago; a Russian clandestine operation directly authorised by the Kremlin.
That operation involved the use of a biological nerve agent in quantities that could have killed thousands.
Furthermore, should Russia trigger NATO Article 5 on Continental Europe as it very well may in the near future if successful in Ukraine, Britain will be at war and our entire Armed Forces, in their current state, likely to be wiped out in short order.
*Correction: Novichok is a chemical nerve agent
Fancy a pint ?
Great idea.
What happened to Guam? Used to be an important stop on the route from Changi?