Aussie Chinooks home to rest

A Chinook is loaded into a RAAF C-17 for return to Australia after an eight month deployment to Kandahar. (SGT Neil Ruskin/Dept of Defence)

The Army’s two CH-47D Chinooks of the Rotary Wing Group detachment based at Kandahar, Afghanistan, returned home on board two RAAF C-17 transports earlier this month.

Since deploying earlier this year, the two Chinooks flew 737 hours over 860 sorties, and carried 4700 troops and 691,000kg of supplies and equipment in support of the International Stabilisation Assistance Force (ISAF).

“On just about all the missions we flew this year supporting our coalition partners, our crews were fulfilling the role of air mission commander, taking the lead and providing direction to the other Coalition aircraft involved in the missions,” Task Group Commander LTCOL David Lynch said. “A key mission requirement for the Task Group was to ensure that the CH-47s were mission ready whenever they were required. This year, we did not fail on a single occasion to provide support when we were assigned to a mission.”

The aircraft will enter a period of maintenance, while a fresh contingent and two more Chinooks will prepare to redeploy early in the new year.