Introducing Air Commodore Tim Alsop Air Commodore Tim Alsop currently serves as Commander Air Combat Group, based at RAAF Williamtown, near Newcastle, NSW. Air Combat Group is responsible for the development and preparation of Australia’s Air Combat force for operations. It encompasses some 2000 personnel, six aircraft types and a special operations Combat Control capability. Tim joined the RAAF in 1993, after completing a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne. He trained as a pilot and has served at all three operational F/A-18A squadrons, as well as instructing on PC-9/A, Macchi and Hawk 127 training aircraft. He currently flies the F-35A Lightning II. In 2009, he deployed to Afghanistan with the Australian Special Operations Task Group as the Offensive Air Support Planner. Later that year, he moved to the United Kingdom and completed the Advanced Command and Staff Course and a Masters of Arts with Kings College London. As the embedded Director of the 609th Combined Air and Space Operations Centre, in 2018, Tim oversaw the planning and execution of all Coalition air power in the US Central Command area of responsibility, encompassing Syria, Iraq, the Arabian Gulf and Afghanistan. The geostrategic landscape during that period can best be described as ‘quite complex.’ In 2019, he completed another 12 months of study at the Australian War College and became a Fellow of the Defence Strategic Studies Course. AIRCDRE Alsop is the Patron of both the Air Force Nordic Biathlon Association and the Royal Victorian Aero Club’s Young Eagles program – a volunteer organisation that encourages youth to pursue a career in aviation through regular presentations and free introductory flying.