Shadow Warriors Les Guerriers de l'Ombre by Bernd Horn

Author:Bernd Horn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2016-05-05T00:00:00+00:00

427 SPECIAL OPERATIONS AVIATION SQUADRON (427 SOAS)

Upon the creation of CANSOFCOM, 427 Tactical Helicopter Squadron (THS), a pre-existing RCAF aviation unit with two tactical and one special operations aviation (SOA) flying flights, was redesignated 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron (SOAS) and fully embedded as an integral element within CANSOFCOM. Its mission is to provide dedicated special operations aviation effects as part of high-readiness special operations task forces (SOTFs) for domestic and international operations. The Squadron also has a secondary role of furnishing tactical and administrative/utility aviation for domestic contingencies, which includes support to secondary search and rescue.

Despite its full integration within CANSOFCOM in 2006, aviation support to special operations has a relatively long and distinguished history in Canada. These initial SOA capabilities date to the late 1980s, when primarily 427 Squadron, with its CH-135 “Twin Huey,” began providing ad hoc aviation support to the RCMP SERT based in Ottawa at Dwyer Hill Training Centre. From its inception, however, this non-dedicated, non-integral relationship was deemed problematic, and key stakeholders petitioned the Canadian Armed Forces to formally allocate aviation forces to this emerging mission set.

In the summer of 1990, as a direct result of these requests, the Canadian Armed Forces formed a SERT Assault Helicopter (SAH) Flight at 450 Squadron in Ottawa, made up of three CH-135 “Twin Huey” helicopters and aircrew primarily drawn from the 427 members who had been flying with SERT. This newly designated sub-unit operated in conjunction with the RCMP until 1993, at which time SERT’s responsibilities were transferred to JTF 2. With this transfer, SAH Flight began providing special operations aviation support to JTF 2.

This symbiotic relationship continued as the Flight grew to six helicopters and their associated personnel, and through two subsequent moves. The first move occurred in the summer of 1994, when SAH Flight moved from Ottawa to Montreal; the second move was the transfer to Garrison Petawawa in the summer of 1996, which was conducted in conjunction with the transition from the CH-135 “Twin Huey” to the CH-146 Griffon. This last move included a redesignation of SAH Flight to a special operations aviation flight, and embedded it within the pre-existing 427 THS.

By 1997, SOA Flight, or “B” Flight personnel, within a new command and control relationship in the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff group, continued to develop and expand the flight’s capabilities to keep in sync with the maturation of JTF 2. As a result, “B” Flight, in conjunction with JTF 2, pushed the envelope on urban operations and began to operate within a mari­time special operations environment, developing a precision maritime counterterrorism capability.

When 427 THS was redesignated 427 SOAS in February 2006, “B” Flight remained the dedicated specialist organization primarily responsible for supporting JTF 2 in domestic counterterrorism. Meanwhile, the newly formed “A” Flight began developing an SOA capability, focused primarily on international operations geared toward the Afghan Theatre of Operations. Due to these very specific and demanding operational requirements, the Squadron was eventually forced into a paradigm shift that saw it innovating and adapting to develop a significant expeditionary lift capability.

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