Royal Jordanian Air Force

Royal Jordanian Air Force
Royal Jordanian Air Force emblem
Founded	25 September 1955
Country	Jordan
Allegiance	King of Jordan
Branch	Air force
Type	Military aviation
Role	Aerial warfare
Size	12,000 Active
Part of	Jordanian Armed Forces
Air Headquarters	Amman, Jordan
Equipment	450 aircraft
Commanders
Commander	Major General Mansour Al-Jbour
Insignia
Roundel
Air Force Ensign
Fin Flash
Aircraft flown
Attack	Bell AH-1 Cobra
Fighter	F-16 Fighting Falcon, Northrop F-5
Trainer	CASA C-101 Aviojet, Slingsby T-67 Firefly
Transport	Lockheed C-130 Hercules, CASA C-295

The Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF; Arabic: سلاح الجو الملكي الأردني, transliterated Silāḥ ul-Jawu al-Malakī ’al-Urdunī) is the air force branch of the Jordanian Armed Forces.

Jordan gained independence in 1946, but its first air bases had been set up in 1931 by the Royal Air Force. By 1950, Jordan began to develop a small air arm which came to be known as the Arab Legion Air Force (ALAF). The Royal Air Force assisted in training this small air arm and provided equipment. The ALAF's primary fighter was the de Havilland Vampire and a Vickers VC.1 Viking was operated as a VIP aircraft for use by the King of Jordan. By 1955 King Hussein realized the need for Jordan to have a more modern Air force, and on 25 September 1955 the RJAF was established. By 1958 the Royal Air Force had left Jordan and the RJAF had taken control of the airfields in the country.

In 1967, in the Six-Day War, Israel destroyed Jordan's Air Force of 21 Hawker Hunters.

In the 1970s the RJAF was modernised. Lockheed F-104 Starfighters were acquired from the United States following heavy losses in the Six-Day War. However, the Starfighter proved superfluous and several were given to the Pakistan Air Force with the last unit withdrawn from service in 1977 leaving a fighter gap that would not be filled until the arrival of the Dassault Mirage F1 in 1981. The RJAF also acquired Northrop F-5 Tigers via Iran during the reign of the Shah who procured them from the United States. Cessna T-37 Tweets were also acquired for the training role. In 1975, the RJAF gave its fleet of 31 Hawker Hunters to the Sultan of Oman's Air Force, having failed in their efforts to sell them to Rhodesia or Honduras. The Hunters were delivered to SOAF Thumrait between May and June 1975.