RAF Station Al Udeid is a military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

 airfield for the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 in Qatar

Qatar

Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...

, serving as a station for British air operations in support of Operation Telic

Operation Telic

Operation TELIC was the codename under which all British military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the Invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on 22 May 2011...

 and Operation Herrick

Operation Herrick

Operation Herrick is the codename under which all British operations in the war in Afghanistan have been conducted since 2002. It consists of the British contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force and support to the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom...

 - the designation for British contributions towards operations in Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 and Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 respectively.

Deployment

The RAF detachment at Al Udeid consisted of nearly 400 personnel and 6 to 8 Tornado GR4 aircraft. Aircraft were equipped with a range of stores including Vicon Recce Pod, LITENING targeting pod

LITENING targeting pod

The AN/AAQ-28 LITENING targeting pod is a precision targeting pod system currently operational with a wide variety of combat aircraft. LITENING significantly increases the combat effectiveness of the aircraft during day, night and under-the-weather conditions in the attack of ground and air...

, 1000 lb HE bombs, Paveway II and Paveway III, RAPTOR Recce Pod

RAPTOR

RAPTOR is a reconnaissance pod used by the Royal Air Force on its fleet of Tornado GR.4A and GR.4 aircraft. RAPTOR is manufactured by the Goodrich Corporation....

. Of the personnel detached to RAF Al Udeid only approximately 130 were direct aircraft engineers with the remaining 270 being in the support and operation management role.

Squadron

Squadron (aviation)

A squadron in air force, army aviation or naval aviation is mainly a unit comprising a number of military aircraft, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force...

 Personnel were on a two-month rotation at Al Udeid with the remainder of the force on a four-month rotation. The squadron personnel knew the day they left was the day they would arrive in the following year. Support personnel were on varying rotations but not as often generally as the squadron personnel.

The aircraft designated to Al Udeid were drawn from across the Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 Fleet and were chosen for their currency and up to date modification state. The aircraft were not from any particular squadron but shared amongst the RAF Marham

RAF Marham

Royal Air Force Station Marham, more commonly known as RAF Marham, is a Royal Air Force station; a military airbase, near the village of Marham in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia....

 and RAF Lossiemouth

RAF Lossiemouth

RAF Lossiemouth is a Royal Air Force station to the west of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, Scotland. It is one of the RAF's biggest bases and is currently Britain's main base for Tornado GR4s. From 2013 the Northern QRA force of Typhoon F2 will relocate to Lossiemouth following the closure of...

 aircraft.

During the stay at Al Udeid the RAF operated from what was known as the Southern QRA buildings which can be easily seen on Google Earth

Google Earth

Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...

. Aircraft were housed in canvas shelters to protect them from the heat of the sun and also personnel that had to work on them.

RAF Al Udeid has also been used as a staging post for personnel en-route to Iraq (Basra

Basra

Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...

h) with personnel transferring from passenger aircraft such as the RAF operated Tristar

Lockheed TriStar (RAF)

|-See also:-References:* Prothero, R.M. "Tristar:The answer to an operational requirement". Air International, March 1991, Vol 40 No. 3. pp. 128–134....

 (from / to UK) to the Tactical Transport of the RAF Hercules

C-130 Hercules

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...

 (from /to Basrah). The Hercules transit was in the region of two hours and mostly in tactical black-out

Blackout (wartime)

A blackout during war, or apprehended war, is the practice of collectively minimizing outdoor light, including upwardly directed light. This was done in the 20th century to prevent crews of enemy aircraft from being able to navigate to their targets simply by sight, for example during the London...

conditions.

The Al Udeid Tornado Aircraft detachment was closed in June 2009 with the aircraft being deployed elsewhere.