How It Would Work
Dual command: the RAF for military tasks, local resilience forums for emergencies. No new headquarters. Mobilised in under an hour.
Project Sentinel is explicitly dual-use: it provides ground-truth reporting and support to military operations while strengthening the civil response to emergencies. The structure that makes that possible is simpler than it sounds, and reuses what already exists.
How it is tasked
Units operate under clear rules of engagement and tasking protocols. In peacetime and during civil emergencies they fall under the relevant Local Resilience Forum and Strategic Coordinating Group. For military tasking they operate under RAF or Joint command. The same volunteers, standards and equipment serve both, maximising value, minimising overhead.
In plain terms, the Corps does not freelance. It is called out, tasked, recorded, supervised and stood down through recognised structures. That discipline is exactly what separates a useful national capability from informal goodwill.
Dual command, one volunteer
The dual-command model is the heart of the proposal. Defence tasks sit with defence command. Civil-emergency support fits local resilience structures. The same trained volunteer is useful to both.
- Military tasking: commanded through the RAF, or a designated Joint commander, drawing on existing ROCA networks and volunteer discipline.
- Civil tasking: fully integrated into Local Resilience Forums, Strategic Coordinating Groups and Category 1/2 responder structures, exactly as the original ROC worked with local authorities.
No new bureaucracy
No new headquarters or department is required. Existing Royal Observer Corps Association groups already provide a ready-made regional framework. National coordination can be handled by a small embedded cell within an existing RAF or Cabinet Office function.
The legal basis can come from updating existing volunteer reserve or civil-contingency legislation, or from a lightweight new volunteer scheme modelled on the parts of the ROCA that already work.
Rapid activation
Volunteers can be mobilised in under 60 minutes on an intelligence-led basis. Activation is triggered at the first credible indicators of elevated threat, drawn from GCHQ, Five Eyes and other sources, not after the first strike. Fully mobile assets are held at RAF and Reserve units, ready to move.
This matters because a warning system that waits for damage has already failed. The aim is to move early when risk rises, especially around places where a cheap attack could have expensive consequences.
Using what already exists
The pilot can use existing Air Cadet facilities on non-cadet nights, with strict safeguarding in place. Six regions mirror the established Air Cadet structure. Headquarters at RAF Wyton, with a sub-headquarters option at RAF Honington.
Reusing the estate keeps the first version realistic. Britain does not need to buy new buildings to test the idea, it needs a disciplined pilot, clear safeguarding, proper vetting and a small command cell.
Command and people
An Air Commodore in command; around 30 full-time officers trained at RAF Cranwell, at roughly £5 million a year; volunteers fully vetted and integrated with Defence Intelligence; joint training with the RAF Regiment and counter-drone units. Modest numbers, professional standards, real accountability.
The Ask
Don’t wait for the next crisis to wish we had this.
Project Sentinel needs no new department, no new headquarters, no blank cheque. It needs a minister to say yes to a pilot. Add your name, send it to someone who can move it forward, and help force the decision while there is still time.