Divulje and at Gornji Vakuf in central Bosnia
for casualty evacuation missions. When
the crews got the call, it invariably involved
being shot at or lifting wounded people from
minefields. One of these missions involved a
Sea King hovering in a narrow gorge under
artillery fire to winch up a badly wounded
civilian. The crews of 845 NAS took turns to
sustain the detachment at Divulje Barracks
while, at the same time, its sister unit 846
NAS took on the burden of sending crews
to Northern Ireland (and routine exercises
in Norway). The HC4s undertook ongoing
detachments in Northern Ireland for many
years, including at the height of the Troubles,
carrying soldiers and supplies in support of
Operation Banner.
The mission of 845 NAS changed in
December 1995 from UN peacekeeping to
peace enforcement under the flag of NATO’s
Implementation Force (IFOR). During the
first days of 1996, the expanded British
contingent moved into northwest Bosnia to
separate Bosnian, Croat and Serbian forces.
After repainting its helicopters in green and
white tiger stripes, 845 NAS flew into Bosnia
to support the IFOR troops as they moved
forward. In a dramatic show of force to
intimidate the warring factions into standing
down, the Sea Kings air-lifted Royal Artillery
105mm Light Guns and their crews into
frontline positions.
NATO’s intervention succeeded in bringing
peace to Bosnia, but this did not mean the
Royal Navy’s Sea King HC4s could come
home. They stayed in place in Bosnia until
2005 supporting NATO and then European
Union peacekeeping troops.OPS TELIC, HERRICK
AND ELLAMY
Even before its Balkan mission was
over, the Commando Helicopter Force
(CHF) was mobilised for another
campaign, this time in the Middle East
to spearhead the invasion of Iraq.
Virtually all of 3 Commando
Brigade, backed by ten Sea Kings of
845 NAS embarked on HMS Ocean
and HMS Ark Royal, sailed into the
Arabian Gulf. In March 2003, the
assault force went ashore on the Al
Faw Peninsular to seize Iraq’s main
offshore oil pumping stations. Flying
in formation with RAF Chinooks
HC2s, 845 NAS’s Sea Kings landed
hundreds of Royal Marines on to ‘hot’
landing zones in the face of fierce
resistance from Iraqi troops.
Over the next month, the Royal
Marines advanced towards the city of
Basra, fighting through palm groves
along the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
Watching overhead were Sea King
ASaC7s of 849 NAS, who were using
their Searchwater 2000 radars to
detect Iraqi tanks massing to counter
attack. Onboard controllers passed this vital
intelligence to the Marines on the ground or
vectored UK and US strike jets and attackhelicopters to engage the targets. Seven
crewmen were killed when two of 849 NAS’
helicopters collided over the Gulf, the biggest
loss to hit the Sea King force since the
Falklands.
The CHF then found itself committed
to support the British occupation force in
southern Iraq for the next four years. At first it
carried troops and rescued wounded soldiers
but the Sea King detachment at Basra
Airport was soon equipped with a new video
surveillance system (using a L-3 WESCAM
MX-15 electro-optical infrared turret) dubbed
Broadsword which enabled the helicopter
to monitor ground activity at day or night.
Broadsword proved its worth in September
2005 when two SAS men were seized by
rogue police in Basra. A Sea King was able
to use its cameras to track the hostage-takers and passed on the information to an
awaiting rescue force that was able to free
the captured soldiers. Both 845 and 846
NAS took turns to provide six-month-long
detachments at Basra through to the autumn
of 2007. At its peak in 2005 and 2006, ten
Sea King HC4s were based in Iraq.
The rundown of the Iraq campaign in
2007 did not mean the CHF would be given
a break from operations. The Afghanistan
campaign, Operation Herrick, was escalating
dramatically during 2007 with heavy fighting
across Helmand province and British troops
were in combat on daily basis.
A Sea King detachment was soon
established at Camp Bastion, alongside
RAF and Army Air Corps helicopters to
support British forces, as well as US, NATO
and Afghan allies. Again, both the Sea
King HC4 squadrons took their
turns over the next four years and
were in the thick of the action on
a daily basis flying troops and vital
supplies to remote outposts. The
hot and high conditions were a
real challenge for the veteran Sea
King, even when fitted with the
new composite Carson blades, but
the navy helicopters filled a vital
gap carrying small contingents of
troops on distinct operations.
In May 2009 the Sea King ASaC7
squadrons had the opportunity
to bring their capabilities to bear
in the fight against the Taliban by
monitoring the huge Helmand
desert for suspicious activity. On a
daily basis the ‘Baggers’ would fly
from Camp Bastion and use their
Searchwater 2000 radar to detect
Taliban supply columns moving
north from Pakistan. Then the
navy crews would task helicopter-
borne reaction forces to fly out
to intercept the enemy. To help
with the challenging conditions in
Afghanistan four sets of Carson
rotor baldes were purchased and
five-blade tail rotors replaced the
six-blade examples.
By using the radar-equipped helicopters
to monitor the open flank of Task Forcehttp://www.aviation-news.co.uk 35Sea King HAS6 ZA135 lifts off from RNAS Culdrose. The HAS6 was used in the anti-submarine
role. Key CollectionTwo Royal Marines take cover as a Sea King
HC4 from 845 NAS hovers low overhead
ready to pick up an underslung load during
an exercise in Jordan. Crown Copyright32-38_seakingDC.mfDC.mfDC.mfDCDC.indd 35 08/01/2016 14:36