2026 will see two new display pilots join the RAF Red Arrows to replace those who have completed their tour with the team, while 2024’s Red 6 returns to the squadron as Red 10.
Two brand new pilots will join the Red Arrows beginning with next year’s display season, while one of the team’s most prominent roles will also change hands as they welcome back a familiar face.
Squadron Leader Stu Roberts first joined the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team (RAFAT), commonly known as the Red Arrows, in 2022. His selection followed a successful stint with the RAF’s Typhoon force, which saw him deploy operationally to the Middle East and to Eastern Europe. In the 2024 season, Roberts led the team’s famous Synchro Pair as Red 6, taking part in the crowd-pleasing high speed crossover passes alongside Red 7.
After three years as part of the display team and a year as an instructor on the Hawk, Roberts has been chosen as the next Red 10. Red 10’s most visible role is on the ground at air displays providing the team’s commentary, however he will also pilot the team’s primary backup jet while accompanying the nine display jets to each location. The tenth jet also joins the rest of the team during flypasts, and the rear seat can be used by a photographer to capture air to air imagery of the full formation.
“My reaction to finding out I had been selected for the Red 10 role was a mixture of excitement and trepidation,” Roberts said. “I’m really looking forward to getting out with the team but I’m acutely aware I’ve got big shoes to fill after my predecessor’s sterling four years as the familiar voice of the display.”
He added: “Display flying for three years with the team was some of the most demanding and rewarding flying I have ever done. Flying on both the left and right side of the formation as well in Synchro gives me a great insight into what the team are trying to achieve during winter training and the season. I’ve got a pretty good idea what the role entails from an operational perspective, supervising the display and providing the commentary. However, there’s a huge amount of work that goes in behind-the-scenes to organise the display schedule, ensure the display sites are suitable and liaise with event organisers.”
Display Pilots
Joining the Red Arrows as ‘rookie’ pilots are Flight Lieutenants Matt Brighty and Chris Deen, who will take on the positions of Red 2 and Red 3 respectively.
Flt Lt Brighty is no stranger to the airshow calendar, becoming the first ever pilot to have flown both with the Red Arrows and with the RAF’s Typhoon Display Team. Initially flying the Tornado GR4 operationally, he converted to the Typhoon in 2017 and served on deployments to the Falkland Islands and on the Baltic Air Policing mission. Brighty flew the Typhoon display during the 2023 season, often using the hugely popular and recognisable ‘Blackjack’ scheme display jet, serial ZJ914.
“I was often taken to airshows as a child and, of course, the Reds were always the highlight of the show and it was obvious, even then, that they hold a special place in the British psyche,” Brighty said. “That desire deepened when I first had a go behind the controls of a light aeroplane and developed an admiration for formation flying in particular. There are many aspects of the job that I know I’ll find hugely satisfying and enjoyable but I think the main thing is knowing that the displays and flypasts put a smile on the faces of the people that watch them.”
Flt Lt Chris Deen had a similar path to Brighty, beginning operationally on the Tornado GR4 before progressing to the Typhoon FGR4. However, in between these two postings, Deen secured a placement with the U.S. Navy under an exchange programme. Embedding with Strike Fighter Squadron 122 (VFA-122) ‘the Flying Eagles’, he was instructed on how to fly the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and then became an instructor on the aircraft himself.
Deen had previously unsuccessfully applied to join the team, so his selection this year came as very welcome news: “The previous year, I had experienced the disappointment of not being selected, so to finally know it was going to happen was amazing.”
“I remember, as a young boy, watching the Red Arrows display in Falmouth harbour and being in awe of how they would dive down off the hills and then seemingly skim the mast tops, or speed out low over the water and around St Mawes Castle. I remember thinking that looked so amazing and I’ve obviously held onto that though all these years,” he added.
Back to Basics
Both new display pilots have remarked on the massive shift they face between flying the advanced fly-by-wire Typhoon and the, in comparison, extremely simple Hawk T1. The Red Arrows have operated the Hawk T1 since 1979 and are now the only Royal Air Force unit still flying them, with the training squadrons having moved onto the newer Hawk T2.
“It’s been great fun getting back into the cockpit of such a simple jet,” Flt Lt Deen said. “We’ve had a couple of backseat flights with the team during their final displays of the 2025 season and it felt a little more real when the thought came that we’d have to do this ourselves in the very near future.”
Brighty remarked: “It’s been great to be back flying the Hawk again, it’s such a great little aeroplane. It’s been humbling at times having to cope without the luxury of things like a head-up display but it’s slowly coming back. Flying with the team and performing formation aerobatics is largely going back to pure handling skill. The modern frontline fast-jets, that we have just come from, are arguably much easier to fly in pure handling terms, owing to technological advances in their design.”
The Hawk T2 only has 10% commonality with the Hawk T1, this and more in this fascinating interview with an RAF Hawk pilot https://t.co/N4u7tqg2Be pic.twitter.com/xv1oEL8Ehi
— Hush-Kit Aviation News, History & Satire (@Hush_Kit) May 12, 2019
Using existing spares and surplus Hawk T1 aircraft, the Red Arrows are due to continue operating the venerable jet until 2030. Replacement will likely follow the lead of any upcoming decision regarding the early replacement of the Hawk T2, which were originally due to be withdrawn in 2040. We have covered the RAF’s desire to move on from the Hawk extensively, and there are a dizzying number of options – all with their own complex positives and negatives – for the service to consider.
Until then, the Red Arrows continue to operate their signature red Hawk T1s.
