Royal Isselmere-Nieland Air Force

Royal Isselmere-Nieland Air Force

Ensign
Insignia
Roundels Finflash
Domestic equivalents1
Anguistian	Aérchlú Ríoghabh na hUislíamór-Nhígúlad
Nielandic	Konungligr Flugher Isslamærar-Nýlands
Isselmerian	Royle Aer Force o 'Isslamere-Nieland
Command
State	Isselmere-Nieland
Headquarters Building	Daurmont
Director-General
Chief of Air Staff
Establishment RINFC RINAF ACC RINAF	1916 1927 2003 2004
Aerospace Service
Service Headquarters
Royal Air Force Air Defence Command Strike Command Training Command Transport Command RINAF Auxiliary RINAF Corps
Orbital Defence Force Space Command Strategic Defence Command
RINAF Police
Budget (USD, 2006)
Total Per capita	$4.325 trillion $326,281
Percentages GDP National budget	1.06% 3.71%
Abbreviations
RINAF (Eng.) ABRUN (Ang.) KINF (Nie.)
References
1 See Dynamic and formal equivalence.

The Royal Isselmere-Nieland Air Force (RINAF) was established in 1927 as the air component of the United Kingdom of Isselmere-Nieland's armed forces and until 1947 was administered by the Air Ministry, after which it became a department within the amalgamated Ministry of Defence. The RINAF arose from the Royal Isselmere-Nieland Flying Corps (RINFC), formed in 1916 from air units of the Observers Corps of the Royal Artillery.

In 2003, the Royal Air Force briefly became the Royal Isselmere-Nieland Aerospace Force (RINASF), with the traditional functions of the Air Force devolving to an organisation known as Air Combat Command whilst the functions of Space Command and the missile wings of Strategic Defence Command fell to a newly created Orbital Defence Command. In 2004, the Council of State elevated both commands to the status of Forces within the Aerospace Service, giving rise to speculation that the Orbital Defence Force would become a fifth service within the UKINDF. As yet, there has been no active official support for such a separation of the Aerospace Service. Shortly afterward, King Henry V gave royal patronage to this smaller Air Force, henceforth named the Royal Air Force.

History

The Isselmere-Nielander Army established the Isselmere-Nielander Flying Corps (INFC) as an arm apart from the Observer Corps in 1916 to support artillery spotting and reconnaissance operations for Isselmere-Nielander units operating alongside their British Army counterparts on the Western Front during the First World War. Initially, the aircraft used by the INFC were unarmed, but as fighting in the air became fiercer, rifles and later machine guns were introduced.

In 1921, Queen Esmé bestowed the honorific royal upon the INFC, which consequently became the Royal Isselmere-Nieland Flying Corps (RINFC). Six years later, once more following the example of the British, the Flying Corps became a separate service known as the Royal Isselmere-Nieland Air Force (RINAF), operating under the newly established Ministry of Air. To aid interoperability with the British Royal Air Force, the new RINAF adopted the British rank structure and insignia, causing immense controversy not only with the Royal Isselmere-Nieland Navy, which was appalled by what it termed as the abuse of its rank structure, but by the RAF itself. Since the RINAF was a relatively limited player in Isselmere-Nieland's overall defence strategy in the interwar period, this controversy vanished almost as quickly as it arose.

World War II brought the RINAF back into action, albeit mostly for coastal patrol duties to cover some of the Greenland Gap. Even so, the RINAF distinguished itself.

From 1927 to 1986, the RINAF was a monolingual organisation, particularly as English was the international language for air traffic control and within most air forces. With the Constitution Act, 1986, and the subsequent Nielander Language Act, 2005, the RINAF became a trilingual force, as evinced by the rank chart below. Operationally, however, it remains monolingual.

Organisation

Air units

The smallest air unit employed by the RINAF is the section of between two and four aircraft commanded by a Flight Lieutenant or higher rank. Two sections and their associated ground crews form a flight under the command of a Squadron Leader. Usually, fighter aircraft flights operate between six and eight aircraft, whilst heavy strike aircraft flights operate between three and four; bomber flights are rarely subdivided into sections of more than two aircraft. About two-thirds of a flight's aircraft are employed during operational sorties. On sorties, section and flight leaders rotate to provide command experience throughout the flight.

Although flights are occasionally deployed to provide air defence for outposts, squadrons are the fundamental operational and organisational unit within the RINAF. Between three and four flights comprise a squadron. Squadron size depends primarily on the type of aircraft flown. Fighter squadrons consist of between sixteen and twenty-four aircraft of a same or similar model, with the complexity of the aircraft being the prime determinant. Squadrons of larger aircraft such as bombers and transports rarely have more than twelve aircraft. Usually, a Wing Commander is a squadron's commanding officer.

Squadrons of like aircraft (i.e., fighters, bombers, etc.) operating from the same aerodrome are grouped into a wing. As in British practice, an aerodrome serving as a wing's base is known as a station. The officer commanding a wing is typically a Group Captain. Stations are typically defended by at least a company of infantry and a battery of air defence artillery. Wings are the smallest operationally fully independent units (i.e., units with a sufficient logistical tail) within the RINAF. To prevent the destruction of the nation's airpower by a concerted attack on the nation's airfields, fighter and light attack squadrons are frequently dispersed as flights from their home bases.

Wings are grouped into a group, usually commanded by a Air Commodore. Unlike wings, groups may consist of different types of aircraft, especially when operating as part of an expeditionary force. Groups form air divisions, which are likewise combined to form numbered (field) air forces.

Ground units

Ground units for air and ground defence of RINAF facilities comprise the RINAF Corps. In general, these units follow the models set by the Isselmere-Nielander Army, although the nomenclature of the units is different. As in the British Royal Air Force, a ground flight is comparable to an army platoon, whilst a ground squadron would be the equivalent of a company or battery. Units of battalion-size are known as wings, and brigades as groups.

Aerodromes are usually defended by at least one infantry and one air defence artillery (ADA) squadron each. An aerodrome's ADA squadron is typically a mix of fixed installations of gun sites and missile batteries and mobile units. At permanent stations, the infantry squadron is organised as either a or tracked wheeled light armoured vehicle company.

Equipment

Aircraft

Fighter/Light Attack

• Spectre FG.3, FGR.4, EF.12, FA.15, FA.16
• Sea Fury FA.1, T.2
• Scimitar F.1
• Tiger F.1
• Garuda F.1

Strike

• Swordfish S.2
• Angrboda B.1

Helicopters

• Cormorant HC.1
• Condor HC.1

Uncrewed aerial vehicles

• LMI-3 Rook
• LMI-4 Tern
• LMI-17 Thrush
• LMI-30 Wyvern
• LMI- Horus

Rank and rank insignia

References

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