Vice Admiral Sir Richard Charles Thompson, KCB, CBE, FRS, CEng, FRAeS (born 12 February 1966) is a retired Royal Navy officer.

[1] He served as Senior Air Engineer on the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and went on to be team leader responsible for the procurement and integration of the Lightning II multirole combat aircraft.

[3] Thompson became Director (Technical) at the Military Aviation Authority in October 2016.

[6] Thompson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2007 Birthday Honours,[7] and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours.

[8] He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2023 Birthday Honours.