24 NAVY NEWS, MARCH 2008
Landlocked iin a sa seaa o of sand
T
HE DUST, sand and When we look through the goggles commitments, such as amphibious
mountains of Afghanistan
Hot and high. It’s been the key phrase for much of the British military’s
we get a head-up display. exercises,” said Cdr Carretta.
have been a theatre of war
theatre of operations for several years. But it’s been a phrase that up to “We no longer look inside the “And now we find we’re support-
for millennia – the Persians, now has caused the heart of a Sea King pilot to sink.
cockpit for flight data. We’re look- ing 40 Commando out there – from
Alexander the Great, the But no more. Upgraded, bolstered and beefed-up the Sea King HC4+
ing out the cab’s windows all the training with them on Exercise Vela
Mongols; and recent decades
has been proving itself in the hot and high conditions of Afghanistan for
time, and it improves our situational it has now moved to operational
have brought the Soviets,
awareness.” – and we’ve very pleased to be
the past four months. This is the start of an enduring commitment by “We’d flown with the DVNG in doing so.”
Americans and British to this
the Naval airmen and women of the Commando Helicopter Force to this
the UK, particularly in the Welsh He added: “Thing are going
tribal nation.
And here, now, the naval avia-
landlocked nation.
mountains. But out in Cyprus was well so far. It’s challenging, as we
the first time we’d flown with the expected.
tors of the Commando Helicopter
goggles and blades as a package.” “But everyone has settled in well.
Force are carving their name into A significant proportion of the
“Despite this experience there to prepare aircrew for hot weather
And once the upgraded HC4+ In Kandahar we’re in barrack blocks
the history books of warriors who squadron’s tasking is working
was much to learn of the intrica- operations in mountainous, dusty
arrived in Afghanistan, it quick- rather than the tents of Basra. All
have done battle in this landlocked with aircraft from all three British
cies of this landlocked and remote terrain.
ly proved its worth to its breth- the life support and welfare are
nation. Armed Forces and the other coali-
country.” “Operating higher and hotter ren in the Joint Helicopter Force gathered in the camp.”
It was the middle of the night in tion forces, and often with British
However it was not just a new than usual”, said Lt Brewin, “the (Afghanistan). He added: “What is nice is
late November when the airmen of or American Army Apache AH64
theatre that the airmen were getting modifications enabled the aircraft “For the engineers, the changes that our friends from the Naval
D Flight of 846 Naval Air Squadron attack helicopters.
to grips with, but the use of new to conduct landings at various sites have brought a new challenge. But Strike Wing are out there with the
arrived in their new theatre of oper- During Forward Operations at
equipment and aircraft modifica- high in the Troodos Mountains, they are rising to it and doing really Harriers. There’s a strong Royal
ation in a blacked-out RAF TriStar. Camp Bastion, the Sea Kings of
tions that included Display Night during the hottest part of the day well,” said Cdr Carretta. Naval presence in the mess.”
Scant days later the enhanced the CHF were the High Readiness
Vision Goggles, Carson main rotor and an extra 2,000lbs heavier than The Sea King commitment to Camp life was further bolstered
Sea King HC4+ – new rotor blades Force – at short notice to carry out
blades, Agusta-Westland five-blad- previously possible.” Op Herrick is due to be shared with in the run-up to Christmas when
and tail rotor, gearbox upgrades any of their essential roles – during
ed tail rotor, a new Defensive Aid Cdr Carretta said: “The big thing
and more – joined the 70 men and the assault by air on the Taleban
sister CHF squadron 845 NAS who 846 NAS donned their Santa hats
women of 846 NAS in Afghanistan, stronghold of Musa Quala.
Suite and Bowman radios. for me is the procurement of the will arrive in theatre in the spring. and the Sea King sleigh delivered
and the squadron became embed- As a result of this major attack in
The months of operational, fly- new blades. The new blades have “Each squadron will provide a up to 60 bags of mail and Christmas
ded within the established Army northern Helmand, the Sea Kings
ing, and infantry training were been a real success, delivered to a Flight. We’re posturing ourselves presents each day to the units scat-
Lynx, Apache and RAF Chinook have come to know a new set of very
pulled together in a final exercise short timescale and delivered well.” that the guys will spend three tered across the regional command.
detachments of the Joint Helicopter dusty landing sites in their ongoing
Hida (High Density Altitude) at He added: “Another big change months in Afghanistan in a year, “It was with a sigh of relief that
Force (Afghanistan). efforts to keep the ground troops
RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, a chance is the Display Night Vision Goggles. with the rest of the time on our other the squadron was able to clear the
Cdr Mario Carretta, command- supplied in the enduring operation.
ing officer of 846 NAS, said: “We’re But the ‘brown-out’ of their dust-
well used to working with the other filled landings are a familiar chal-
elements of the JHF, but what’s lenge to the fliers experienced in the
different is that with the improved ‘white-out’ of Norwegian snow.
performance of the new blades we Unlikely as it seems, the months
can keep pace with the other aircraft of preparation leading up to this
out there.” deployment began in the cold peaks
Kandahar is home to some of Bardufoss at the start of the
15,000 military and civilian per- year.
sonnel from the US, Canada, the “The dust in Afghanistan is like
Netherlands, Denmark, France and a very fine talcum powder that
many other nations, and the barrack gets everywhere, it makes operat-
blocks of the base made a pleasant ing aircraft very difficult,” said Cdr
change from the tents of Basra that Carretta.
846 NAS had come to know so well “The techniques learnt in
in recent years. Norway work even in the demand-
Initial introductions, getting used ing extremes of Afghanistan – train-
to the theatre in daylight and dark ing and flying in sudden bad weath-
hours and plunging into the murk er, the problems of losing visual
of dust landings, were followed by reference in snow – it’s all paying
the start of operations on December dividends for the guys.”
1 when the Naval Sea Kings began Pilot Lt David Brewin said: “In
to take on some of the burden January 2007 whilst training in
of keeping supplies flowing across Norway, the rumours of a change of
the scattered units in Helmand direction for 846 NAS operations
Province. became reality, when the command-
In a short time the remit of ing officer Commando Helicopter
the Sea Kings expanded to include Force Col John McCardle RM con-
the whole of Regional Command firmed that we would be deploying
South, where the Commando Sea to Afghanistan in support of Op
Kings were called to work in a vari- Herrick.
ety of roles. “As the first Royal Navy heli-
Naturally the lift and shift Sea copters to be used in this notorious
Kings were tasked with troop move- theatre, the Commando Helicopter
ments and carrying under-slung Force headquarters and squadron
loads through the Afghan region, faced the challenge of recovering
with additional tasking such as from its commitment to Iraq, while
mine-strike evacuation, command getting ready for a new theatre
tasks and force protection. of operations in less than seven
Force protection included the months.”
technique of Eagle Vehicle Check He added: “CHF has a wealth
Points, where troops are dropped of experience in desert operations,
next to roads to check cars and accrued during several years of sup-
vehicles for illegal weapons and port to Op Telic; so many of the
explosives, and the Sea Kings buzz tactics and techniques were directly
around as aerial sentinels. transferable.
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