Royal Air Force Air Cadets
Active	Since 5 February 1941[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Type	Volunteer Military Youth Organisation
Headquarters	RAF Cranwell
Patron	The Princess of Wales
Website	www.raf.mod.uk/aircadets/
Commanders
Commandant Air Cadets	Air Cdre Tony Keeling[2]
RAFAC WO	WO Donna Hall RAFAC
Honorary Ambassadors	Wg Cdr Emma Wolstenholme RAFAC

The Royal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC) is the combined volunteer-military youth organisation sponsored by the Royal Air Force, which is formed by both the Air Training Corps and RAF Sections of the Combined Cadet Force.^[3] The organisation is headed by a former serving RAF officer, Commandant Air Cadets. The current commandant is Air Commodore Tony Keeling.^[4]

Prior to 1 October 2017, the RAFAC was called the Air Cadet Organisation (ACO).^[5] As of 1 April 2014, the ACO had a strength of 53,360 cadets and cadet force adult volunteers.^[6] Cadets are aged between 12 and 17 on entry to the organisation, and can remain until they are 18, or with special permission, until they are 20.^[7]

Organisation

The RAFAC's infrastructure consists of:

• Headquarters Air Cadets (HQAC) at RAF Cranwell
• 6 Regional Headquarters
• 34 Wing Headquarters
• Two National Air Cadet Adventure Training Centres
• Over 900 Air Training Corps Squadrons in the UK and overseas^[8]
• Around 200 RAF contingents of the Combined Cadet Force^[8]

Regions

The six regions consist of:

1. London and South East Region (LaSER)
2. South West Region (SW)
3. Wales and West Region (W&W)
4. Central and East Region (C&E)
5. North Region
6. Scotland and Northern Ireland Region (S&NI)

Each Region is commanded by a "Regional Commandant" (RC), who holds the rank of group captain, and is usually retired regular RAF. The Region is further staffed by a number of cadet forces adult volunteers (CFAV) who maintain the day-to-day operations of each of the regions.^[9] Examples of these CFAV posts include Region Staff Officer, Region Training Officer, and Region STEM Officer.^[10]

RAFAC Sections of the CCF

Air Cadet sections within the Combined Cadet Force usually follow their own chain of command within their school's unit. Above their school unit, they diverge into the same chain of command as the Air Training Corps, which is usually their Wing, or Region.