Raf oasc 2016

Hello Maisy.

Have you been on RJP?
When is your OASC?

Current RAF Ops -
Falklands Islands .
Op Shader - Syria/Iraq.
Op Kipon - Presence of UK assets in the Gulf states (Oman, Bahrain, Qatar etc) .
There was an RAF detachment in Nigeria at one point searching for the missing school girls but that may now have ended.
Baltic air policing from Estonia.

You should aim for a good knowledge of what aircraft are based where & what their roles are. I'd definitely suggest you learn exactly what bases ABMs are primarily at. Off the top of my head, it's usually Boulmer & Scampton.

Hey, I haven't as I work full time and would not be able to get the time off! I wish! My OASC is the beginning of October

That's a real shame as it was really helpful.

We were told the names of the following Ops, some are current but most have finished:

Telic - Iraq
Herrick - Afghanistan
Ellamy - Libya
Luminous - Syrian Aid
Ocean Shield - Somalia anti piracy
Shader - ISIS
Azotize - Baltic Air Policing


And I added Toral, which they weren't familiar with but a few of us were. It is the Pumas assisting with Op Resolute Support in Kabul.

That's a real shame as it was really helpful.

We were told the names of the following Ops, some are current but most have finished:

Telic - Iraq
Herrick - Afghanistan
Ellamy - Libya
Luminous - Syrian Aid
Ocean Shield - Somalia anti piracy
Shader - ISIS
Azotize - Baltic Air Policing


And I added Toral, which they weren't familiar with but a few of us were. It is the Pumas assisting with Op Resolute Support in Kabul.

It is a shame you haven't got a little longer because the RAF NEWS newspaper has lots of information on current operations, I believe that most of them have been covered previously in this post.
In terms of how much information to know on aircraft, I have learnt the squadrons that fly each aircraft and which base they are at too... I have a document on them if needed! II guess you could go further into what armament each aircraft carries to show good preparation and in depth knowledge.
Unfortunately I am going for an aircrew role, but not ABM, so I am unsure how many specialised branches there are. If in doubt say... 'According to the RAF website'

All the best in your application though Maisy!

Thanks for the reply!

Okay I'll make sure I know as much as I can on the aircraft in that case! Which document do you have? Or is it just one you've made yourself? I appreciate you will probably need to know more information on aircraft specifically if you are going for an aircrew role!

All the best to you too!

Bare in mind that the more you appear to know, the more they'll ask.

The questions are designed to test your knowledge / how well you've researched, yes, but they're also there to see how you react under pressure. No matter what the topic, they will keep going until they get you to an area that you don't have the answer for. They're looking for how you react under that pressure and what you do next.

You don't need encyclopaedic knowledge of the RAF.

Good point Drewski!
I suppose that is very true... As I put in my reply I'm guessing it would be better to be consistently good over all questions rather than just be excellent in some areas and less in everything else.
Have you been through the RAF application?

Tbh, what they expect you to know isn't that hard, there's no reason why you can't know a great deal. There's the additional point of why wouldn't you want to know all you could about what you're trying to do for a career? It's in your interest to know the things they're asking you to look up, not just from the point of view of 'getting the job'.

Yes I have. Successfully, I might add.

Bare in mind that the more you appear to know, the more they'll ask.

The questions are designed to test your knowledge / how well you've researched, yes, but they're also there to see how you react under pressure. No matter what the topic, they will keep going until they get you to an area that you don't have the answer for. They're looking for how you react under that pressure and what you do next.

You don't need encyclopaedic knowledge of the RAF.

This is my problem though, I am desperate to find out more but the website is incredibly unreliable. Although this isn't the only source of information, it is definitely the first port of call for aspiring recruits!

I was just after any additional information on operations and how much I would ideally need to know about aircraft. As an aspiring ABM I am obviously keen to know about the equipment I would be working with and where it currently is!

Even the specifics about the job itself aren't entirely accurate - does anyone have any insight into specialisations in the ABM branch?

Have you searched here? There's an old thread dedicated to ABM, information won't have changed that much.

Outside of branch specific information, open source information is available everywhere and not hard find.

I found a thread called 'Ask an ABM', however reading through it there wasn't a huge amount of information. It was a lot about aptitude testing and such. If there was another thread that I haven't found could you point me in the right direction? I haven't found an up to date one.
Hence, starting this one