In January 1968, the Joint Air Transport Establishment (JATE) was formed with its headquarters at Old Sarum, Wiltshire which at the time was also the home of the Joint Warfare Establishment (JWE) and the Army Air Transport Development Centre (AATDC).
The initial JATE Organisation was based on a consortium of 3 separate units, operating under the co-ordinated control of Headquarters JATE. The 3 units in question comprised of the Army's long serving AATDC, AFTDU and a new organisation titled the Joint Helicopter Development Unit, (JHDU).
The JHDU added a Naval presence within the JATE organisation. There was a close link between JWE and JATE with the post of JATE Commandant being combined with the Deputy Commandant at JWE.
In 1970 the MOD decided JATE should be based entirely at RAF Abingdon (the home of ATDU) and the close ties with JWE ceased.
It was also decided that the main element of JHDU should become independent of JATE and remain at Old Sarum under the new title of Joint Helicopter Tactical Development Unit (JHTDU).
JATE retained 1 section, made up of personnel of AATDC's Helicopter Section, concerned with helicopter underslung loads, internal load clearance work and techniques for carriage of troops by helicopter.
The move to Abingdon was completed in February 1973. In combination with the move, a more unified structure was introduced. The separate identities of AATDC and ATDU were formally discarded although the various sections remained identifiable with their earlier affiliations.
Under the new structure the sections comprised: Heavy Drop, Air Despatch, Airportability, Infantry/Signals and Training Sections (all ex-AATDC), together with Air Logistics and Aircraft Engineering Sections (ATDU background), Helicopter Section (JHDU/AATDC background) Design Drawing Office (made up of personnel from both AATDC and ATDU) and Flying Section (Hercules aircraft) which was special to JATE.
As a result of a government defence review in 1974, it was decided to move JATE to RAF Brize Norton. Thus on 31 December 1975 JATE HQ was formally established at its present site.
There was further restructuring with the merger of sections with common roles so leading to a more streamlined organisation with savings in manpower. Thus the Heavy Drop and Air Despatch Sections merged to form the Aerial Delivery Section and the Airportability and Logistics Sections merged under the title of Airportability Section. Infantry/Signals Section simply became Infantry Section,whilst retaining a signals specialist.
By the end of the 1970's Aircraft Engineering shortened its title and became Engineering Section. At the same time the Infantry Section became the Airborne Trials Section, which reflected the type of work they specialised in.
In the 1990s a team appointed by the MOD completed a JATE study. One of the recommendations was that command of JATE should be moved from the Director of Commitments to the RAF Air Warfare Centre (AWC) under RAF Strike Command.
This change occurred in April 1998 and JATE's name also changed to reflect its position within the AWC becoming a evaluation unit instead of an establishment and JATE became JATEU. As part of this reorganisation the JATE Flying Section left to become part of the Hercules Operational Evaluation Unit (HOEU) at RAF Lyneham.
From the start of the 1980s until April 1998 the post of Commandant JATE, which used to rotate between RAF and Army, was provided by an Army Colonel and the post of Deputy Commandant was filled by a RAF Wing Commander of the General Duties Flying Branch.
With the formation of JATEU, the Commandant became an Army Commanding Officer in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and the second in command became a RAF Squadron Leader.
The announcement in 2004 that planning should commence for the closure of RAF Lynham, project CATARA (Centralisation of Air Transport and Air Refueling Assets) has started the process of evaluating the move of assets to RAF Brize Norton.
Thus, JATEU is actively participating in the planning which will see the Hercules transport fleet, the Hercules Operational Evaluation Unit (Herc OEU) and 47 Air Despatch Squadron Royal Logistics Corp relocate to join JATEU at Brize Norton.
At present, the aspiration is to expand the Herc OEU into a wider ranging Air Transport and Air to Air Refuelling (ATAAR) OEU [covering such aircraft as C17 and A400M] and to co-locate the new unit alongside JADTEU.