Air Marshal Harv Smyth CB OBE DFC MA RAF
Biography
Born and educated in Northern Ireland, Harv Smyth joined the RAF in 1991 as a Direct Entrant. He spent 15 years as a frontline Harrier pilot and weapons instructor and has flown hundreds of operational missions from both land bases and aircraft carriers over Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
In early staff roles Smyth worked in the UK Air & Space Warfare Centre and spent 2 tours in the F-35 Lightning programme, the latter based in Washington DC as the UK’s F-35 National Director.
In 2013 Smyth retrained as a Tornado pilot and became the Station Commander of RAF Marham, delivering concurrent operations in Afghanistan, West Africa, Iraq and Syria, alongside transitioning the base for F-35 integration. On promotion to Air Commodore (1) in 2015 he became the Tornado Force Commander. Promoted to Air Vice-Marshal (2) in 2018, Smyth retrained as a Typhoon pilot and became Air Officer Commanding Number 1 Group (AOC 1Gp). Smyth was promoted to Air Marshal (3*) in 2022 and appointed as the RAF’s Deputy Commander (Operations): this role transitioned to become the UK Air and Space Commander in 2023.
He is Patron of the Jon Egging Trust (a charity supporting troubled teenagers); President of RAF Rugby, Rowing and Small Arms; a Board Member of the Freeman Air and Space Institute; and ambassador for the RAF Charitable Trust. With strong links to Northern Ireland, Smyth is extremely proud to be Honorary Colonel for the 2nd Battalion (NI) Army Cadet Force, Senior Mentor to the Northern Ireland Universities’ Air Squadron and Patron of the Ulster Aviation Society, Ireland’s sole military aircraft museum.
He is married with 2 grown-up daughters.
Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Military Strategy and Operations)
This role has been created by changes under the Defence Reform programme. Responsibilities will be updated in due course.