India to send aviation unit to Congo as part of UN mission

The Indian Army is today sending an aviation unit to the Congo’s Kivu province as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission there.
The unit comprises of 70 personnel and six light utility Chetak (HAL-built Alouette III) and Cheetah (HAL-built Alouette II) helicopters. The contingent, led by Colonel Shantanu Kashyap, will remain in the Congo for one year. It will provide air support for UN peacekeepers and will undertake surveillance, observation, search and rescue, medical and reconnaissance flights.
“Military helicopter units, in particular, are an absolute force requirement for operations conducted in vast and remote locations, as many of our missions do,” Alain Le Roy, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping told the UN General Assembly’s Special Committee on Peacekeeping in February.
Earlier in the year the UN predicted a shortfall of 56 helicopters, particularly for the UN missions in Sudan, Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In the middle of this year India withdrew the last helicopters it had stationed in Africa, citing the need to use them for anti-Naxal rebel operations at home. India originally had 17 helicopters in the Congo and Sudan, including eight Mi-25/35 attack helicopters and nine Mi-17 transports. India first announced in September last year that it was taking back its helicopters serving with the United Nations.
07/09/11 defenceWeb

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Categories: Foreign Sep 2011, Indian Aviation- In General Sep 2011