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Operation Herrick aerial order of battle

This is the Operation Herrick aerial order of battle, which lists any aerial or airfield protection units of the British armed forces that have taken part in the duration of Operation Herrick between 2002 and 2014.

Kandahar Force Protection Wing

The Royal Air Force Regiment used a variety of vehicles including Pinzgauer Vector's, Vixen Land Rover's and WMIK Land Rover's to externally protect Kandahar Airfield and the Wing was controlled by a Wing Commander who was responsible for the safety of initially 12,000 personnel:

Bastion Force Protection Wing

  • OP H 4 (May – November 2006)
  • OP H 5 (November 2006 – April 2007)
  • OP H 6 (April 2007 – October 2007)
  • OP H 7 (October 2007 – April 2008)
  • OP H 8 (April 2008 – October 2008)
  • 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling), 83rd, 87th and Ulster Defence Regiment)
  • Imjin Company (2 R IRISH Territorial unit)
  • OP H 9 (October 2008 – April 2009)
  • OP H 10 (April 2009 – October 2009)
  • 34 Squadron RAF Regiment
  • OP H 11 (October 2009 – April 2010)
  • OP H 12 (April 2010 – October 2010)
  • 1 Squadron RAF Regiment
  • B Squadron
  • OP H 13 (October 2010 – April 2011)
  • OP H 14 (April 2011 – October 2011)
  • OP H 15 (October 2011 – April 2012)
  • OP H 16 (April 2012 – October 2012)
  • No. 5 Force Protection Wing
  • Wing Headquarters
  • 51 Squadron RAF Regiment
  • Elements of 2622 (Highland) Squadron RAuxAF Regiment
  • No. 2 Tactical Police Squadron
  • Soldiers from the Tongan Defence Service
  • Elements of 16th Regiment Royal Artillery
  • OP H 17 (October 2012 – April 2013)
  • OP H 18 (April 2013 – October 2013)
  • OP H 19 (October 2013 – June 2014)
  • OP H 20 (June 2014 – December 2014)
  • No. 7 Force Protection Wing

RAF Regiment

Aerial assets

  • Task Force Jaguar and the Joint Aviation Group (JAG).

The initial helicopter complement was:3-5_3

  • 8 × Apache AH.1
  • 4 × Lynx
  • 8 × Chinook

The peak amount of helicopters was during January 2011 with:3-5_3

  • 11 × Apache AH.1
  • 4 × Lynx AH.9A
  • 9 × Chinook
  • 4 × Sea King HC.4+
  • 5 × Merlin HC.3

Mixed operators

The Westland Lynx AH.7/9/9A was used in Afghanistan by both the Army Air Corps and the Fleet Air Arm. With the Army Air Corps (AAC) it was operated by both 1 and 9 Regiments and with the Fleet Air Arm it was only used by 847 Naval Air Squadron (NAS).

The first unit to use the Lynx AH.9A was 672 Squadron/9 Regiment AAC during Mid 2010.

The Lynx was also used by the Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing of which 657 Squadron was part of. The squadron was deployed to Kandahar at least once during 2014 where one of its Lynx's was lost along with the entire crew.

In August 2004, the Ministry of Defence announced that 6 Royal Air Force British Aerospace Harrier GR.7 jets from No. 3 Squadron would deploy to Afghanistan, marking the first time RAF ground-attack jets have been deployed to the country with them fully arriving by September.

  • Harrier detachment (Joint Force Harrier):
  • No. 3 Squadron RAF from September until December 2004.
  • No. 1 Squadron RAF from December 2004 until April 2005.
  • No. 4 Squadron RAF from April until July 2005.
  • 3 Sqn from July until October 2005.
  • 4 Sqn from October until December 2005.
  • 1 Sqn from December 2005 until May 2006.
  • 4 Sqn from May until September 2006.
  • 800 Naval Air Squadron from September 2006 until January 2007
  • During 2007 the GR.9A variant was introduced
  • 1 Sqn from January 2007 until June.
  • 4 Sqn from June until October 2007.
  • Naval Strike Wing from October 2007 until February 2008
  • 4 Sqn from February 2008 until April.
  • 1 Sqn from April until August 2008.
  • Naval Strike Wing from August 2008 until December
  • 4 Sqn from December 2008 until April 2009.
  • 1 Sqn from April until June 2009 (Last British Harrier Squadron in Afghanistan).

The Harrier detachment was replaced by the all-RAF Tornado detachment in June 2009.

Army Air Corps

The Army Air Corps operated the AgustaWestland AH.1 Apache and the Westland Lynx AH.7/9/9A in Afghanistan.

The AgustaWestland AH.1 Apache was operated by 3, 4 and pre September 2007 9 Regiment

Royal Air Force

The air component of British forces assigned to Operation Herrick was based at both Kandahar Airfield under 904 Expeditionary Air Wing (904 EAW) and Camp Bastion under 903 EAW.

Fixed wing

Rotary wing

Other units

  • UAV Detachment - 3 x MQ-9 Reaper were introduced to Kandahar during October 2007.
  • No. 39 Squadron RAF from October 2007.
  • 1 Air Mobility Wing (1 AMW) is a specialist unit of the RAF trained in the loading and unloading of transport aircraft. This unit operated in conjunction with the Hercules detachment.
  • Tactical Medical Wing - The TMW provided RAF medical services to all forces, and is particularly adept in the field of aeromedical evacuation.
  • Mobile Meteorological Unit - Providing weather forecasting and reporting services to aircrew and commanders.
  • 47 Air Despatch Squadron, Royal Logistic Corps - 47 AD Squadron is a specialist unit trained in the receipt, loading and preparing of stores by both helicopter and fixed wing aircraft.

Fleet Air Arm

Elements of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm squadrons regularly rotated with each tour.

The ASaC7 version of the Westland Sea King has been in use in Afghanistan since May 2009.

  • 854 Naval Air Squadron - Sea King ASaC7 - Camp Bastion.
  • November 10 – March 12.
  • June 14 – 18 July 14.
  • 857 Naval Air Squadron - Sea King ASaC7 - Camp Bastion.
  • May 9 - December 10/July 14
  • From March 12 until unknown at least until July 14.

References

Citations

Bibliography