David Walker (RAF officer)

Air Marshal David Walker CB CBE AFC is a Royal Air Force officer. He is currently the Deputy Commander, Allied Joint Force Command at Brunssum, in the Netherlands, having previously served for over three years as Deputy Commander, Allied Air Component Command at Ramstein in Germany. Prior to that appointment he was Air Officer Commanding No. 1 Group in the UK.

Education and Personal
Educated at Bristol University (BSc in Geography) and King's College London (MA in Defence Studies), Walker is undertaking a Portal Fellowship for a PhD with King's College London at the Royal Air Force College Cranwell.

Service career
Walker was commissioned as a University Cadet in 1975, being regraded as a Pilot Officer on graduation in 1978 and then promoted to Flying Officer and Flight Lieutenant the following year. He completed flying tours in Germany, the United States, and the UK, flying the Harrier and F/A-18 Hornet, being promoted to Squadron Leader in 1987 and awarded the Air Force Cross in the following New Year Honours List. Promoted to Wing Commander in 1993, Walker went on to command 1(F) Squadron, flying operational missions over Iraq and Bosnia, before becoming Military Assistant to the Minister of State for the Armed Forces, serving the Hon Nicholas Soames and then Dr John Reid.

Walker was promoted to Group Captain in 1997 and attended the Higher Command and Staff Course in 1999, before taking command of RAF Cottesmore and the UK Harrier Force. In 2001 he was posted to HQ No 3 Group, spending most of that tour deployed overseas supporting operations in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom; he was appointed CBE in the 2002 New Year Honours List. Promoted to Air Commodore in 2002 he took up the post of Assistant Chief of Staff J3 (Operations) in the Permanent Joint Headquarters, with responsibility for the management of all UK expeditionary operations, but with his main focus being Operation Telic, the UK contribution to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Promoted to Air Vice Marshal and appointed Assistant Chief of the Air Staff in October 2003, Walker became responsible for the detailed handling of overall RAF policy, relations with NATO and other allies and the change agenda, being closely involved in the Eurofighter Typhoon programme. In April 2005 Walker took command of No 1 Group with responsibility for the RAF’s fast jet forces. In April 2006 he also assumed responsibility for the RAF Support Helicopter Force contribution to the UK Joint Helicopter Command.

In June 2007 Walker was promoted to Air Marshal and appointed Deputy Commander, Allied Air Component Command at Ramstein. In July 2010 he was appointed to co-lead the Joint US/NATO Ballistic Missile Defence Task Force, to develop Operational Concepts. Walker was appointed CB in the 2011 New Year Honours List, and in March of that year he became Deputy Commander Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum.