No. 1 Air Control Centre (also known as 1 ACC) is a deployable mobile command and control unit of the Royal Air Force that is currently based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. The unit acts in conjunction with the Control and Reporting Centre (CRC) at RAF Boulmer in Northumberland, but also detaches staff to overseas locations when the Royal Air Force is engaged in operations. Some of these postings are permanent, such as in the Falklands Islands and at Cyprus. 1 ACC's remit is to protect the United Kingdom's, and deployed airspace, from hostile aircraft.

History

No. 1 Air Control Centre started out as No. 9 Signals Unit (9 SU) at

RAF Rattlesden Royal Air Force Station Rattlesden or more simply RAF Rattlesden is a former Royal Air Force station located south east of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. History USAAF use Rattlesden airfield was built in 1942 as a Class A bomber air ...

in Suffolk in 1964. A year later it was renamed as No. 1 Air Control Centre, and remained at Rattlesden. In 1967, it moved to

RAF Wattisham Royal Air Force Station Wattisham or more simply RAF Wattisham is a former Royal Air Force station located in East Anglia just outside the village of Wattisham, south of Stowmarket in Suffolk, England. During the Cold War it was a major front- ...

, where it remained until 1979 until it moved to

Nancekuke Remote Radar Head Portreath or RRH Portreath is an air defence radar station operated by the Royal Air Force. It has a coastal location at Nancekuke Common, approximately north east of the village of Portreath in Cornwall, England. Its radar ( ...

in Cornwall (later RAF Portreath and then

RRH Portreath Remote Radar Head Portreath or RRH Portreath is an air defence radar station operated by the Royal Air Force. It has a coastal location at Nancekuke Common, approximately north east of the village of Portreath in Cornwall, England. Its radar ( ...

). Between 2006 and 2009, No. 1 ACC was deployed to Afghanistan on Operation Herrick. In 2008, plans were announced in Parliament to relocate 1 ACC from

RAF Kirton in Lindsey Royal Air Force Kirton in Lindsey or more simply RAF Kirton in Lindsey is a former Royal Air Force station located north of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. It's an RAF habit (inherited from the RFC) to name its bases after the nearest railway ...

and the CRC from Scampton to RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. Whilst this move did not proceed as intended, 1 ACC moved to RAF Scampton in 2012 and the technical site at RAF Kirton in Lindsey was sold off, although the domestic site was retained for RAF personnel. In 2018, the RAF announced that RAF Scampton would close by 2022, which would involve moving all units out of the station to other locations. 1 ACC will move before the station closes to RAF Boulmer. Staffing of the unit fluctuates with demand and role, but in 2015, the number of personnel at the unit was around 220.

Role

The main role of 1 ACC is to provide deployed air control operations, both in the United Kingdom and on deployed operations worldwide. Whilst working in the United Kingdom, 1 ACC feeds into the CRC at RAF Boulmer and helps to protect UK airspace from hostile aircraft.

Locations

Permanent locations

Current

* RAF Scampton, (2013 – present) *Mount Olympus (Cyprus) *Mount Alice (Falklands) *Byron Heights (Falklands) *Mount Kent (Falklands)

Historical

, (1965 – 1967) *

, (1967 – 1979) * RAF Portreath, (1979 – 1982) * RAF Boulmer, (1995 – 2005) *

, (2005 – 2013)

Short deployments

*Zambia, (1967) *Exercise

Saif Sareea II Exercise Saif Sareea ( ar, سيف سريع ) is a series of military exercises undertaken by the United Kingdom and Oman which first began in 1986 and most recently took place in 2018. Saif Sareea 1 Exercise Saif Sareea 1 was the first exercise h ...

, (2001) *

Operation Telic Operation Telic (Op TELIC) was the codename under which all of the United Kingdom's 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 ...

, (2004) * Operation Herrick, (2006–2009)

References

{{Royal Air Force Military units and formations of the Royal Air Force Military units and formations disestablished in 1982 Military units and formations established in 1995