Engineering and Support Squadron

Engineering and Support Squadron consists of RAF, Civil Servants and contracted personnel. Mechanical Engineering Flight comprises the Target Production Bay and General Engineering, Mechanical Transport and Supply sections, which are staffed exclusively by civilian contract personnel employed by Carillion Enterprise.

Spadeadam uses a variety of equipment to provide a realistic hostile electronic environment for aircrew. These include ex (East) German Air Force Equipment in addition to various emulators and simulators. Due to the specialist nature of this equipment, RAF personnel are specifically trained on arrival at RAF Spadeadam. The fundamentals of operation and maintenance for the unique systems is carried out at the Emitter Training School (ETS).

In addition to electronic realism, Spadeadam provides visual targets in the form of real and replica Surface to Air Missile (SAM) Batteries, Surface to Surface Misssile (SSM) systems and other military vehicles. Other target sets include hard and soft buildings, bridges and a purpose built airfield with associated equipment. Some targets are capable of being illuminated by Laser Target Designators and others are fitted with heating elements to produce a realistic thermal signature for infra-red reconnaissance training.