Need a lift? Supporting the French in Mali
Meet Flight Lieutenant Ant Jewitt and Sergeant Rob Gredington. They are part of the Chinook Display Team, and both have recently returned from Mali where they have been supporting our deployment of Chinooks to France’s Operation BARKHANE.
We were involved in Operation NEWCOMBE, which is the UK Defence’s support to the French Armed Forces in Mali and the wider Sahel region.
Efforts in the region aim to provide greater stability, reducing the global terrorist threat and stemming the flow of illegal migration to Europe, keeping us safe here in the UK.
The RAF Chinook provides a strategic lift capability and logistical support to reduce the risk to French Forces, who are more vulnerable to attack when moving around by land.
The UK is working alongside the French Operation BARKHANE, which is France’s counter-terrorism efforts in the Sahel region.
Operating in Mali has been challenging. It’s extremely, extremely hot and arid, hitting 45 degrees while we were out there. Our work was very physical and dehydration was something we had to factor in. Getting home to your room, after all that, was a relief.
We were carrying a huge amount of cargo. It could be absolutely anything, from people, to dogs, to water. You name it, we carried it. And we delivered whatever it was to different locations in Mali.
The terrain in Mali means the engines and blades are working harder — but we were still operating right at the capability of the aircraft, carrying around 24.5 tonnes of equipment.
Actually going out into a theatre of operations and performing the role that we’ve trained for is fantastic, and we work hard back here in the UK too, supporting the British Army, the Royal Marines and Paras.
Working with the French was great. They are really happy for us to be there and our presence is providing so much capability, which means that it frees their assets up to do other things.
As the international language of aviation is English, we overcame the language barrier and regularly flew in formation with our French allies.
Find out where else the UK Armed Forces are deployed here:
