Defence & security
Royal Air Force
35,978
1 July 2026 · ▲ 351 vs 1 April 2026
Ageing · as of 23 Sept 2026no date announced
18d old · Quarterly, published by the MOD
Explained
Royal Air Force: the official figure explained
The latest royal air force figure from Ministry of Defence · Quarterly service personnel statistics, with its period, release dates and full source link.
The live figure
Ministry of Defence
What it measures
Royal Air Force — All RAF personnel incl. reserves · since 1 April 2012. The figure is published by Ministry of Defence · Quarterly service personnel statistics and covers 1 July 2026.
How often it is published
Ministry of Defence · Quarterly service personnel statistics publishes this quarterly, published by the mod. UKStats shows the figure exactly as published and never estimates values between releases.
Methodology
Ministry of Defence · Quarterly service personnel statistics — original publicationUKStats reproduces the published figure exactly; the publisher's own methodology notes are the authoritative description of how it is compiled.
Cite this figure
Ministry of Defence · Quarterly service personnel statistics, "Royal Air Force", 1 July 2026. Via UKStats (ukstats.co.uk/explained/uk-forces-raf), accessed 12 October 2026. Original: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-2026Embed this figure
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