Defence Forces conducts first strategic reach operation in Lebanon

The Defence Forces has conducted its first personnel rotation in a conflict zone using new “strategic reach” capability.

On Friday, the Defence Forces confirmed it carried out an operation to transport key battalion personnel to United Nations Post 2-45 in Lebanon, known as Camp Shamrock, and to return communications specialists who had been performing critical maintenance to communication systems and infrastructure.

It said the operation occurred in a “volatile region” with Army personnel of the 127th Infantry Battalion who conducted a patrol from UNP 2-45 to Beirut and the Air Corps flight crew of the C295 who performed the strategic airlift from Casement Aerodrome in Dublin to Beirut.

In a statement, the Defence Forces said: “This operation demonstrates the strategic reach capability of the Air Corps, as well as the capabilities of our Army personnel employing force protection measures to enable operations in a conflict zone.”

It is the first such operation using the “strategic reach” capability of the Air Corps.

The Defence Forces said it needed to conduct the mission because a civilian air partner had cancelled a planned flight to rotate personnel out, over concerns of the increased risk in Beirut’s airspace.

This left key personnel, including medical battalion headquarters staff and medics, unable to return to the 17th Infantry Battalion.

At the same time, several communication specialists deployed to work on systems across Unifil’s area of operations were also due on the cancelled flight.

They had been working on rebroadcast towers, communication hardware in the armoured fleet and other network engineering tasks.

The Defence Forces worked with the Department of Defence and Department of Foreign Affairs to co-ordinate the strategic airlift and ensure diplomatic clearances for all personnel.

The C295 was selected and the internal configuration was modified to carry both the 26 battalion personnel and required logistics.

On Thursday, personnel reported to Casement Aerodrome and the C295 took off that morning for Cyprus via Italy.

The aircraft then overnighted in Cyprus to comply with a mandatory rest period, before taking off on Friday to fly directly to Beirut.

Earlier that morning, the 127th Infantry Battalion travelled in a MOWAG armoured personnel carrier from Camp Shamrock to Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut.

The patrol required heightened level of force protection on its journey.

The patrol was at the airport prior to the C295 landing and oversaw a transfer of material and personnel, seeing the plane depart and the armoured personnel carriers return to Camp Shamrock on the same day.

The Defence Forces said the operation shows how it can use the new aircraft to respond and support personnel in challenging environments.