The Defence Forces have worked with the Air Corps’s new strategic reach aircraft for the first time as part of a troop rotation in Lebanon.
The complex operation, which spanned the distance between Baldonnel and Beirut, had to be carried out as a result of a dramatic curtailment of civilian air traffic in the Middle East because of the ongoing conflict in the region.
The Airbus C295, which was acquired by the Air Corps late last year, has a maximum range of 5,000km and features a modern suite of avionics, secure communications, as well as operational and safety equipment. It was deployed for use by the Defence Forces after the civilian provider it uses for planned leave-block rotations halted its operations.
This cancellation left a number of key personnel, such as battalion headquarter staff and medical personnel, unable to return to the 127th Infantry Battalion at a time of heightened volatility in the region.
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Additionally, a Communication and Information Systems (CIS) Corps work party had been deployed to Unifil (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), on a short-term basis, to conduct critical maintenance of communication systems and infrastructure.
This included communication systems across the region including rebroadcast towers, communication hardware in the armoured fleet and network engineering to enable command and control. This work party was due to return on the cancelled rotation.
The Defence Forces worked closely with the Department of Defence and Department of Foreign Affairs to coordinate the strategic air lift and ensure diplomatic clearances for all personnel.
In a statement, the Defence Forces said the operation demonstrated its ”professionalism and the wide range of capabilities that can be delivered by our personnel in challenging environments”.
It said the “capability to support our deployed personnel in challenging environments enables operations to continue and be sustained. These actions by our personnel ensure that [the Irish Army] can remain resolute in its commitment to Unifil”.
