A contingent of 75SQN Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) personnel and six F/A-18A Hornets have departed from RAAF Base Tindal for Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE where they will replace the six F/A-18F Super Hornets flying combat missions over Iraq under Operation OKRA.
The six 75SQN jets will join the KC-30A tanker transport and E-7A Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft operating from Al Minhad, while C-130J Hercules and C-17A Globemaster airlifters remain available to provide additional humanitarian and logistic support as required, Defence stated.
As of figures provided on March 3, the F/A-18Fs had completed 179 missions, expending 221 precision-guided weapons.
The Super Hornets are due to return to Australia in the coming month.
