RAF Units Return From Cyprus

RAF units deployed to Cyprus as part of the UK response to the recent crisis in the Middle East have returned home.
Aircraft and personnel from 121 Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW) were sent to region earlier this year as a contingency measure to protect the two Sovereign Base Areas on the island, which are home to more than 6000 British service personnel.
The unit Typhoon jets, E-3D Sentry early warning aircraft, supported by Tristar air-to-air refuelling tankers, RAF Regiment Force Protection personnel, and fighter controllers.
Aircraft from 121 EAW were able to conduct sorties from Cyprus within hours of arriving on 24 August to reduce the threat potentially posed at the height of the recent turmoil.

They included;

· XI Squadron Typhoons from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire which over the two and a half months of the operation flew 224 sorties

· 8 Squadron E-3D Sentry aircraft from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire which routinely flew 10 sorties, seven-days-a-week, to provide command and control of other aircraft.

· 216 Squadron Tristar tankers from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire which provided air-to-air refuelling.

· 1 Air Control Centre from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire which deployed its Type 101 radar to provide round-the-clock radar coverage and tactical control of aircraft during sorties.

· Number 5 Force Protection Wing from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire which assumed responsibility for security at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus within 12 hours of arriving.

The deployed force was followed by the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer HMS DRAGON.
The deployment also required RAF units to operate in a multinational environment including conducting joint operations with the American aircraft carrier USS NIMITZ and the French destroyer CHEVALIER PAUL.
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