A fleet of 13 Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNethAF) Boeing CH-47D Chinooks belonging to 289 Squadron is set to deploy to Eritrea in the next few weeks in support of United Nations operations in the area. A number of troops will also deploy. The squadron, which was recently operating in Kosovo, is flying the advanced version of the Chinook equipped with a full digital glass cockpit. Six are new build aircraft and the remainder are upgraded from the standard CH-47D. A second Dutch helicopter squadron is deploying to Croatia equipped with Eurocopter AS532U2 Cougars. Both helicopter squadrons home base is at Soesterberg. The two squadrons, which support the Netherlands Air Mobility Brigade, make up the entire helicopter transport capability of the Dutch air force.
Source: Flight International
