The Fleet Requirements and Air Direction Unit (FRADU) was a unit of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

operated by the contractor

Serco Serco Group plc is a British multinational corporation, multinational military, defence, Healthcare, health, Space industry, space, private prison, justice, Human migration, migration, customer service, customer services, and transport company ...

Defence and Aerospace. It was established in 1972. It was most recently equipped with 13

BAE Systems Hawk The BAE Systems Hawk is a British single-engine, subsonic, jet-powered advanced trainer aircraft. Its aluminum alloy fuselage is of conventional string-frame construction. It was first known as the Hawker Siddeley Hawk, and subsequently produc ...

T1 advanced jet trainer aircraft on lease to the

from the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, based at

RNAS Culdrose Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose (RNAS Culdrose, also known as HMS ''Seahawk''; International Civil Aviation Organization airport code, ICAO: EGDR) is a Royal Navy Military airbase, airbase located beside the town of Helston, situated on the L ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

. Two of these aircraft were permanently detached to Naval Flying Standards Flight (fixed wing) at

RNAS Yeovilton Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, commonly referred to as WAFU central, (HMS ''Heron'') is an airbase of the Royal Navy, sited a few miles north of Yeovil, in the English county of Somerset. It is one of two active Fleet Air Arm bases, the ...

where they are flown by RN pilots, but maintained by Serco engineers. FRADU provided training for the Royal Navy by conducting simulated attacks on Royal Navy ships during Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST),

Airborne Early Warning An airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system is an airborne radar early warning system designed to detect aircraft, ships, vehicles, missiles and other incoming projectiles at long ranges, as well as performing command and control of t ...

(AEW) exercises, training air controllers and Helicopter Fighter Affiliation training. In June 2013, FRADU was redesignated 736 Naval Air Squadron.

History

The Fleet Requirements and Air Direction Training Unit (FRADTU) was formed in 1972 by the merger of the Fleet Requirements Unit (FRU) and the Air Direction Training Unit ADTU which were operated by

Airwork Services Airwork Limited, also referred to during its history as Airwork Services Limited, is a wholly owned subsidiary company of VT Group plc. It has a long and rich history in providing a variety of defence support services to the Royal Air Force (RA ...

for the RN. In 1983, the contract for FRADU was offered to competitive tender; the contract was won by

Flight Refuelling Ltd Flight or flying is the motion of an object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift associated with gliding or propulsive thrust, aero ...

Hurn Hurn is a village and civil parish in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole district of Dorset, England. It is situated between the River Stour and River Avon north-west of Christchurch and north-east of Bournemouth town centre. In 2001, t ...

. The FRADU moved from RNAS Yeovilton, its home since 1972, to RNAS Culdrose in December 1995.

Aircraft

* Dassault Falcon 20 (twin-jet) *

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet propulsion, jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly dev ...

, GA.11, RNAS Yeovilton, December 1972 to May 1995 *

, T.7/T.8/T.8C, RNAS Yeovilton, December 1972 to May 1995 *

, T.8M (3 reworked Hunter T.8Cs fitted with the

Sea Harrier The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval short take-off and vertical landing/vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft. It is the second member of the Harrier family developed. It first entered servic ...

's Blue Fox radar), RNAS Yeovilton, March 1983 to December 1994 (Note: Operated by 899NAS though still maintained by FRADU's engineers). *

English Electric Canberra The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havilla ...

TT.18, RNAS Yeovilton, December 1972 to November 1992 *

de Havilland Sea Vixen The de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen is a British twin-engine, twin boom-tailed, two-seat, carrier-based fleet air-defence fighter flown by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm from the 1950s to the early 1970s. The Sea Vixen was designed by the de Havi ...

, RNAS Yeovilton, December 1972 to February 1974 *Canberra T.4, RNAS Yeovilton, December 1972 to April 1986 *Canberra T.22 (reworked Canberra PR.7), RNAS Yeovilton, November 1973 to September 1985 *

T1 advanced jet trainer, RNAS Yeovilton, April 1994-November 1995. RNAS Culdrose, December 1995-June 2013.

References

External links

Royal Navy FRADU pageFRADU Hunters

Naval aviation education * Military units and formations established in 1972 Military units and formations disestablished in 2013 {{Aviation-org-stub

History

Aircraft

See also

References

External links