Daft question perhaps, but what is the RAF doing in Africa ? Just been overflown by a C-17 heading into Brize which originated in Algeria, and according to FlightRadar he’s being followed in to land by a Voyager out of Dakar.
I know the guy that is OC Movements Africa I’ll ask the question…might not be able to tell me but I’ll ask
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At a guess, support for Op Newcombe
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Thanks both. FlightRadar revealed the Voyager was the Mount Pleasant flight.
perhaps supporting the Army??
which i understand then prompts the question “what is the ARMY doing in Africa?”
I can’t answer that - however, a “Combat Medic” friend (former Cadet) in the Army was out in Kenya about 6 months ago. They were out there delivering training to the Kenya Forces.
Now I can’t say it is the same operation, but perhaps something similar? the C-17 used for delivering the kit for some kinda of training British Forces are completing?
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I realise that we are likely to be in places that we aren’t (if you know what I mean 
- a former colleague’s brother was ex-RM and joined the “police” but for some reason spent a lot of time in Turkey) but providing support to Op Newcombe makes sense considering the geographical location of Mali compared to Algeria.
The Army spend a lot of time in Tunisia training, wouldn’t be suprised if those already out somewhere are being kept there as they are less likely to be infected?
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I have a friend that’s a chinook pilot that’s been doing a few trips in Mali doing chinook things like underslung loads etc.
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Correct. There’s a big connection with the Army and Kenya, and they train there a lot. There’s a running joke with mates in the Army that’s they joined the forces to see the world and all they have seen is Kenya.
Over the past few years there’s been an evolving level of commitment and training to Africa. I spent a lot of time on the West Coast in a good few of the countries, mentoring and training. It’s a good training ground and we have good political connections. (Not to mention the ever growing Oil industry…)
We did a lot of cross training with local forces, the yanks, the Dutch and there was some Spanish forces too.
There’s been a push for more involvement with Anti-poaching from the MOD. While there has been some movement towards it and although this would be good PR and good training environment it wouldn’t be the best.
A mate is involved in Anti-poaching and says it’s been pretty cheeky, and there’s political implications and a few situations that the MOD wouldn’t want to be part of.
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