This is the Operation Herrick aerial order of battle, which lists any aerial or airfield protection units of the British armed forces that have taken part in the duration of Operation Herrick between 2002 and 2014.
Kandahar Force Protection Wing
British aircraftmen from B Flight, 27 Squadron, RAF Regiment take a break whilst on a combat mission near Kandahar Airfield, 2 January 2010
The Royal Air Force Regiment used a variety of vehicles including Pinzgauer Vector's, Vixen Land Rover's and WMIK Land Rover's to externally protect Kandahar Airfield and the Wing was controlled by a Wing Commander who was responsible for the safety of initially 12,000 personnel:
The first unit to use the Lynx AH.9A was 672 Squadron/9 Regiment AAC during Mid 2010.
The Lynx was also used by the Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing of which 657 Squadron was part of. The squadron was deployed to Kandahar at least once during 2014 where one of its Lynx's was lost along with the entire crew.[6][7]
In August 2004, the Ministry of Defence announced that 6 Royal Air Force British Aerospace Harrier GR.7 jets from No. 3 Squadron would deploy to Afghanistan, marking the first time RAF ground-attack jets have been deployed to the country with them fully arriving by September.
Tornado detachment (Jun 09 - 11 Dec 14) - Eight Tornado GR4 aircraft were stationed at Kandahar tasked with providing close air support to British, Coalition and ISAF ground forces. These replaced the Joint Force Harrier aircraft - eight Harrier GR9
No. 617 Squadron RAF from unknown to January 2014.[25]
No. II (AC) Squadron RAF between February[26] and June 2014.
No. IX (Bomber) Squadron RAF between June 2014 and September 2014.[26]
No. 31 Squadron RAF between September 2014 and 11 November 2014.[27]
Hercules detachment (6 Apr 06 - 14 Nov 14)[28] - Five C-130 Hercules transport aircraft from RAF Brize Norton (formerly RAF Lyneham) were also stationed at Kandahar and Camp Bastion to provide troop and supply movement capability in Helmand and wider Afghanistan. Three aircraft were C-130K models and two were C-130J, with crews taken from all four RAF Hercules squadrons:
No. 1310 Flight RAF (Apr 06 - 12 Dec 14) - The support helicopter force consisted of 8 Chinook HC.2/4 helicopters with crews rotated from the three RAF squadrons, based at KAF with most forward deployed at Bastion:
No. 1419 Flight RAF - The support helicopter force consisted of 5 AgustaWestland Merlin HC.3 helicopters with crews rotated from the two RAF squadrons between October 2009 and May 2013.
1 Air Mobility Wing (1 AMW) is a specialist unit of the RAF trained in the loading and unloading of transport aircraft. This unit operated in conjunction with the Hercules detachment.
Tactical Medical Wing - The TMW provided RAF medical services to all forces, and is particularly adept in the field of aeromedical evacuation.
Mobile Meteorological Unit - Providing weather forecasting and reporting services to aircrew and commanders.
47 Air Despatch Squadron, Royal Logistic Corps - 47 AD Squadron is a specialist unit trained in the receipt, loading and preparing of stores by both helicopter and fixed wing aircraft.
