Distant article about RAF (4)
I believe the answer is:
afar
'distant' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'article about raf' is the wordplay.
'article' becomes 'a' (the indefinite article in English).
'about' says the letters should be written backwards.
'raf' reversed gives 'far'.
'a'+'far'='AFAR'
(Other definitions for afar that I've seen before include "Way-out" , "Inhabitant of Ethiopia" , "Unusually distant" , "A long distance away" , "Pull out at a distance" .)