Commander Air Force's mid-rank officers' ranks are modelled on those of the Royal Navy, the term wing commander is used as a rank, and this is the equivalent of a lieutenant colonel in the army or a commander in the navy. The rank of wing commander is above that of squadron leader and below that of group captain. In the former Royal Naval Air Service, which was merged with the Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force in 1918, the pilots held appointments as well as their normal ranks in the Royal Navy, and they wore insignia appropriate to
Force Element Group Force Element Group The Force Element Groups (FEGs) of the Australian Defence Force are the operational capabilities. Each of the component commands has a set of FEGs. The FEG operational commanders report to the component commanders (COMAUSFLT/CFC/ACAUST), who in turn report to the operation's Task Force commander. The FEG commanders are either of Captain (naval)/Colonel/Group Captain rank, or one-star rank for larger FEGs (Commodore/Brigadier/Air Commodore). The component commanders are of two-star rank (Rear Admiral/Major General/Air Vice Marshal). There are two parts to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN)'s structure. One is an operational command, Fleet Command, and the other is a