Flying Light Helicopters

Flying Light Helicopters

Naval Aviator - The Memoir of a Royal Navy Officer and Operational Westland Wasp and Lynx Pilot

Naval Aviator - The Memoir of a Royal Navy Officer and Operational Westland Wasp and Lynx Pilot

Maritime Strike - The Untold Story of the Royal Navy Task Group off Libya in 2011

John Kingwell

This is a story of leadership under pressure and the remarkable professionalism of all involved and the bravery of Army aircrew. It was modern defence and joinery at its best - British Army and USAF helicopters operating from RN ships, supported by Fleet Air Arm aircraft and fixed wing jets as part of a largely air campaign.
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In April 2011, the newly created Royal Navy Response Force Task Group deployed to the Mediterranean to provide a range of military options in response to the Arab Spring. For the next six months the group planned and prepared for a range of potential operations including noncombatant evacuations from Libya, Yemen and Syria, maritime interdiction operations off the Libyan coast, and amphibious landings. On 3 June the group began launching attack helicopter strikes into Libya and in the nights that followed planned 47 and executed 22 strikes destroying a range of targets including: 54 vehicles, 2 rigid hull boats, 2 BM 21 rocket launchers, 4 main battle tanks, 1 zsu antiaircraft vehicle and 3 command and control nodes. The operation saw the first operational use of Apaches from the sea and the first embarkation of US Army combat search and rescue teams and Blackhawk helicopters in an RN warship. This is a personal account by the Group's Commander, which brings to life the challenges of command - including authorizing strikes and mitigating risk to UK aircrew - in a complex and challenging environment. It reveals how closely the RN Group worked with its French counterpart, the support provided by the United States, together with the complexity of working alongside NATO and of simultaneously dealing with a range of UK authorities. This is a story of leadership under pressure and the remarkable professionalism of all involved and the bravery of Army aircrew. It was modern defence and joinery at its best - British Army and USAF helicopters operating from RN ships, supported by Fleet Air Arm aircraft and fixed wing jets as part of a largely air campaign.

ISBN: 9781636241135
Format: Hardback
Author(s): John Kingwell
First Publishment Date: 15 June 2022
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Author(s) John Kingwell
Customer Reviews
  1. Maritime Strike provides a marvellous insight into the complications and intricacies of leading a modern naval operation
    ‘My Old Man’s a Dustman’ goes the song and this is entirely true of the author of this account which centres on the little publicised Royal Navy Operation Ellamy off the coast of Libya in 2011. John Kingwell’s personal story is a commendable triumph of meritocracy in the class-conscious climate of 1980s Britain. Clearly his talents were recognised early as he rose quickly through the ranks becoming a Commander at the young age of 32, being, in the words of former First Sea Lord Sir Mark Stanhope, ‘one of the most talented officers in the Royal Navy’. Kingwell gained valuable knowledge and experience from working within the MoD in the noughties, a period culminating in the disastrous cutbacks emanating from the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review. The deeply regrettable inter-service rivalry between the RN and the RAF also dogged Kingwell’s time in the MoD and then crucially when he was actually leading the Task Group. The so-called ‘Arab Spring’ erupted across the Mediterranean and the Middle East during 2010 and by June of the following year the RN’s newly created Response Force Task Group (RFTG) was ‘poised’ to respond on behalf of NATO. The core narrative of this book describes the Navy’s contribution: a series of strikes by Army Air Corps Apache helicopters flown from HMS Ocean against key targets in Libya, designed to disrupt the repressive regime of President Gaddafi. This was warfare but not as Kingwell’s famous Mediterranean commander forebears Admirals Nelson and Cunningham would have known it. He was answerable both to his superiors at home and to NATO with all the complications involved in what is described as ‘chopping’ in the chain of command. Only 22 out of 47 planned air strikes were actually sanctioned. In a ‘sanitised’ form of warfare, the accent was on avoiding collateral damage, including the chance of hitting the ‘allied’ rebel forces. Even Gaddafi’s men had the chance to run for cover before a selected target was actually hit. Before each mission was launched, a risk assessment exercise was undertaken; if any of those involved had doubts, it was cancelled. The Commodore, quite apart from despatching the aircrews into imminent danger, particularly from Gaddafi’s modern and sophisticated surface to air missiles, was also from quite early on, under threat of being sacked! Back in the UK the Chief of Joint Operations had been briefed by an RAF officer that the media coverage engendered by the Apache helicopter strikes had undermined the work of the fast jets and consequently Kingwell was to hand over command to the CO of HMS Ocean. This order was never executed although it was only much later that the author learnt that it had been rescinded. He is suitably diplomatic but clearly there is a story to tell which will emerge in due course. Maritime Strike provides a marvellous insight into the complications and intricacies of leading a modern naval operation and one is introduced to a plethora of jargon and acronyms in the process. Nevertheless, the core values of camaraderie, of building personal relationships and trust in the face of extreme risk are constants as well as the loneliness inherent in being in ultimate control of the lives of fellow human beings.

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