Italy to deploy CSAR helicopter force to Iraq

[Zarvan]

Italy is to send Mangusta (pictured) and NH90 helicopters to Iraq to provide CSAR cover for national forces deployed and set to be deployed. Source: Italian Army
Italy is to deploy eight helicopters and 130 personnel to Iraq in support of ongoing efforts to counter the Islamic State in the country, the government has announced.

Four AgustaWestland A129 Mangusta attack helicopters and four NHIndustries NH90 transport helicopters will be deployed to Erbil in northern Iraq "very soon" for the purposes of combat search and rescue (CSAR), defence minister Roberta Pinotti said.

These assets will be provided by the 5th and 7th Army Aviation regiments, both currently part of the 'Friuli' Airmobile Brigade, while the accompanying platoon-sized troop element will be drawn from the 66th 'Trieste' Airmobile Regiment, part of the same brigade. This CSAR package will be similar in structure to that which Italy currently operates in Herat, Afghanistan, in support of the Train Advise Assist Command - West.

Italy already has some 700 military advisors attached to the Kurdistan Training Coordination Center (KTCC), and operates a pair General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc RQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicles, four Panavia Tornado IDS combat aircraft, and one Boeing KC-767 tanker over Iraq.

In addition to the CSAR force being sent, the training force, and the aircraft already operating in-theatre, an infantry element is to be dispatched to the Mosul Dam, about 130 km northwest of Erbil, to support Italian contractors who are working to make the structure safe and to prevent a collapse that the United States is warning could cause up to 500,000 casualties. The Italian government is also said to be considering sending further mechanised infantry assets, including main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and possibly artillery from the 'Garibaldi' Brigade.

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Italy to deploy CSAR helicopter force to Iraq | IHS Jane's 360