Squadron (aviation)

A squadron in an air force, or naval or army aviation service, is a unit comprising a number of military aircraft and their aircrews, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force. In most armed forces, two or more squadrons will form a group or a wing. Some military forces (including the United States Air Force, United States Space Force, French Air and Space Force, Royal Air Force, German Air Force, Royal Netherlands Air Force, Belgian Air Component and Republic of Singapore Air Force) also use the term "squadron" for non-flying ground units (e.g. radar squadrons, missile squadrons, air defense squadrons, aircraft maintenance squadrons, security forces squadrons, civil engineering squadrons, range operations squadrons, range management squadrons, weather squadrons, medical squadrons, etc.). In World War I, the Imperial German Army used the term Squadron (staffel), whereas the Austro-Hungarian armed forces and the Swiss Army used the term company. In the modern German Air Force, a flying staffel is a battalion-equivalent, while a ground based support staffel is a company-equivalent. One such example are the air base defence units, which are squadrons (German, plural: Staffeln) formed into battalions. The ground based missile air defence units are also company- (in this case battery-)equivalent squadrons (staffeln). The Swedish Air Force adopted naval-like traditions in its formative years and for that historical reason calls its squadrons divisions (plural: divisioner). They are grouped into air flotillas (plural: flygflottiljer). During the Cold War the Swedish Army, Navy and Air Force each had their own integral helicopter arms. After the end of it in line with the mid-90s force reduction and reforms they were fused into the Swedish Armed Forces Helicopter Wing as a service, independent from the three main armed forces branches. The Helicopter Wing adopted the term skvadron from the former Swedish Army Aviation for its units, which is squadron in its army company-equivalent meaning.