Joint Task Force Afghanistan Air Wing

The Air Force's distinct contribution to the mission is taking shape:

Thirty soldiers from CFB Edmonton's helicopter squadron will deploy to Afghanistan on Monday.

Members of the 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron will make up the bulk of the current Canadian Helicopter Force in Afghanistan.

The deployment comes days after Defence Minister Peter McKay announced that eight Griffon helicopters will be used in Afghanistan. The Griffons will act as escorts for six Chinook transport helicopters recently acquired from the United States.

[A Chinook helicopter in Afstan, with a Griffon--in Canada--below]

The Chinooks are already in Afghanistan [all of them - MC?] and the Griffons will be shipped soon [via those handy CC-177s?].

Soldiers [Air Force personnel, please] leaving on Monday will run the Chinooks while the Griffon crews are scheduled to deploy later this year, said Capt. Rod Dietzmann.

The Griffons and 408 members were similarly deployed in Bosnia for troop transport [I don't see "troop transport" as a prime role in Afstan--that's what the blinking Chinooks are for; but maybe occasionally in support of JTF 2 - MC?] and aerial reconnaissance. It is the first full deployment of the squadron to Afghanistan.

Canadian Forces will also use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for surveillance. All the airborne equipment is expected to be in place by February 2009.

A newly formed company -- the Joint Task Force Afghanistan Air Wing -- will encompass all deployed Canadian aircraft. Roughly 1,000 CFB Edmonton soldiers returned from Afghanistan this fall. The bulk of soldiers currently deployed are from CFB Petawawa.

I would assume the Griffons might also have an escort role for these helicopters:

KANDAHAR - As the early morning Afghan sun struggled to rise above the rugged mountains, two Canadian-contracted Mi-8 helicopters lifted off from Kandahar Air Field carrying valuable supplies to troops in Canadian forward operating bases in Kandahar Province. The flights on Nov. 17 marked the first time these aircraft have been employed under a new contract that increases Task Force Kandahar's air capability.

Colonel Christopher Coates, Joint Task Force Afghanistan Air Wing Commander, said that the addition of this new capability will "get Canadians off the roads here in Afghanistan where they are exposed to all the dangers of this country... ambushes and IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and the other things that all Canadians are aware of.

"The Canadian aviation community that I'm very much a part of back in Canada is very excited to be here and it's something we've wanted to do for quite some time," he added. "We believe we've got a lot to contribute to the operation and we are very excited to be here."

According to Bob Waring, Project Manager for the Toronto-based Sky Link, the contracted Mi-8 helicopters are ideally suited for operations in Afghanistan. "It is a very versatile aircraft with extremely good capability for high, hot and heavy operations which is what we are looking at doing here," he said.

"It's an austere and difficult environment but we've got the airframes and we've got the crews that are up to the task," he continued. "We have the best of intelligence, the best of coordination, the best of communications, so through that, we are able to do what we need to do."..

Late this summer, Task Force Afghanistan began using the new Scan Eagle UAV [see II. Securing high performance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance...Immediate Needs:... here] in support of its operations. The Heron UAV tactical system has been leased and is expected to commence operations in Kandahar Province in early 2009.

Chinook D model helicopters are being purchased from the U.S. government and are expected to be flying in support of operations by February 2009...

From a post in July 2008:

Some information from a good authority:

Afghan commitment: By the end of the year there will likely by some 700 Air Force personnel (vice 350 now) committed to the mission, at Camp Mirage and in Afghanistan [Update: maybe even more when the Griffons are in-country]. Air Force engineers are currently overseeing some of the road building being done by Afghans as Army engineers are stretched...

Some thoughts at the end of this post on a possible mission after 2011 for the new Joint Task Force Afghanistan Air Wing.

Update: Later reports:

Canadian Air Wing to take the skies over Kandahar

Canadian Forces launch new air wing in Afghanistan