The RAAF’s 92 Wing detachment of two AP-3C Orion reached the milestone of 20,000 mission hours in support of ISR operations over the Middle East on August 15.
Deploying to the Middle East in 2003, the RAAF Edinburgh based Orion detachment has focused on maritime missions over the Arabian Gulf and overland missions extending to Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Our intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions were initially focused on maritime missions in the Arabian Gulf region and soon expanded to overland missions in support of the stabilisation of Iraq,” RAAF Air Component Commander GPCAPT Paul Nicholas said.
“Today, our commitment extends from Afghanistan in support of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to the Indian Ocean off East Africa in support of maritime security and counter-piracy operations.”
Approximately 2800 personnel have been posted to the detachment since 2003.
