The British military will by the end of the year have half-a-dozen or so Merlin HC3s operational in Afghanistan. An in-theater initial operational capability (IOC) was made public by the ministry Nov. 30. The IOC is a month in advance of that originally planned.
The same day British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was expected to confirm the deployment of a further 500 troops for Afghanistan, bringing the UK commitment to 9,500.
The Merlin will provide a valuable additional lift capability for the British forces deployed on combat operations. The air force’s Chinook fleet has so far borne the brunt of support operations in Afghanistan, supplemented by Sea King Mk4s.
The British government has been repeatedly criticized over the amount of rotary lift provided to support the commitment in Afghanistan.
1419 Flight had until the summer been providing rotary support with the Merlin for operations in southern Iraq. The UK’s withdrawal of almost all of its forces freed up the Merlin units for Afghanistan, following crew training and bringing the helicopters to be deployed to an in-theater standard.
Brown announced, with the United Nations Sec. Gen. Ban Ki-moon, Nov. 28, that the UK is to host a conference on Afghanistan at the end of January. Brown said: “The conference will cover both our military and our political strategies, but concentrate on the political strategy for Afghanistan.
”We will need further troop and training commitments from partners. I expect to see 5,000 further troops committed by other nations and the London conference will be also an opportunity for some to make new commitments,” he added.
The British government - as does Washington - faces increasing opposition to the war in Afghanistan, and the emphasis on ‘Afghanisation’ - where the Afghan military and security forces increasingly take over from the International Stabilization and Assistance Force - is an effort to address such concerns, and to provide an exit strategy.
”I hope we will see this process of Afghanisation happening in a way that people can feel more secure, that side by side with the British troops, the Afghans are taking responsibility for themselves,” said Brown, “so we can look forward to a time in the future, for which there is no timetable at the moment, when Afghan forces can take responsibility in new areas and British forces are able to come home.”
This, however, remains dependent on the present regime in Kabul being able to deliver.
Picture Credit 1 Major Paul Smyth/Crown Copyright 2 Cpl. Laura Bibby/Crown Copyright
