A Training and Adventure news article
6 Jul 12
Merlin helicopters and crews from 814 Naval Air Squadron (814 NAS) have returned from the Norwegian Sea, where they took part in a NATO anti-submarine warfare exercise.
A Merlin helicopter crew from 814 Naval Air Squadron searches for submarines during the recent NATO Exercise Dynamic Mongoose [Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2012]
Known as the 'Flying Tigers', 814 NAS sent two of their Merlin helicopters and 55 personnel to take part in Exercise Dynamic Mongoose, which saw them searching for hunter-killer submarines.
During the exercise, the men and women of 814 NAS worked alongside their NATO partners France, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Poland and Norway.
Operating from Sola air base at Stavanger in Norway, the Flying Tigers searched for the submarines actively, with sonar, and passively, by listening to the submarines' movements.
The 814 NAS personnel operated as part of the 'friendly forces', working alongside various NATO maritime patrol aircraft, four surface ships, including HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen, and multiple rotary-winged assets, including Polish Mi-14 'Haze' helicopters, to counter the threat posed by three submarines.
The mission was to assist in the protection of the 'High Value Vessel' (FGS Spessart) from an unseen enemy, who posed a very real threat lurking below the surface and ready to pounce at a moment's notice. The quiet and elusive submarines are difficult opponents, and can prove a real challenge to detect, even with the Merlins' advanced active sonar, passive sonics and radar.
The submarine commanders continually tested the flying crews' war-fighting skills, but the Flying Tigers leapt to the challenge, successfully hunting and preying on the threat....
The rest is here.
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