Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1064315
personnel in danger is not trained as described above, or both par- ties are not as trained or equipped as in the former case – which increases the risk of such a mission's failure, of course. The third type of mission – NAR – involves non-standard ac- tions, which are not governed by any procedures, but which may turn out to be most effective in a given situation. Where did the idea to establish a PR Squadron in Inowrocław come from? At present, no air operation may take place without a guaran- tee that the shot-down crew members can be recovered, and the range of the undertaken air operations is often considered the po- tential range of CSAR missions. The idea to form a CSAR squadron able to recover own soldiers from a conflict area was born out of experience gained when the first Polish soldiers were sent to Iraq in 2003. One of the incidents that took place in 2006, when our Mi-24 on a mission to support the Iraqi army near Bagdad was shot at and the crew had to switch STORY & PHOTO: BARTEK BERA off the damaged engine and, in consequence, resort to emergency landing on an abandoned Iraqi airport near Al-Suwaira (a territory under complete control of the enemy) proved that it was neces- sary to have a Personnel Recovery system. The event made us realize how poor our experience, equipment, and procedures were in that area, and how much effort we needed to make to fill the gap. The problem was identified and when the W-3 helicopter was undergoing modernization, it was decided to make it suitable for CSAR missions. In the Polish CSAR unit, the RV (Rescue Vehicle) and the EF (Extraction Force) role is to be played by W-3PL, and the RESCORT (Rotary Wing Escort) is to be handled by Mi-24. This led somewhat naturally to a decision that the CSAR squadron should join the ranks of the 56th Combat Helicopter Regiment of the time. The squadron formed in 2008 was based on the experience its pi- lots gained during missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, flying Mi-24s. The idea was in its infancy back then in Poland – what chal- lenges did you have to face? Who did you look up to? The global leader in the field of Personnel Recovery has always been, of course, Americans. They started developing their CSAR tactics already in Vietnam. At the time when our squadron was formed, Europe's leader in the area of PR was EAG (European Air Group), which paved the way for EPRC (European Personnel Recovery Center), based at Poggio Renatico, to be established in 2015. Since 2007, EAG has been organizing annual CJPRSC (Combined Joint Personnel Recovery Standardization Course) courses in different parts of Europe, with over a dozen countries participating in them each time. The courses aimed to support the exchange of experience and the development of European capa- bilities and procedures. Since the very beginning, the squadron's INTERVIEW