France Ministry of Defence, December 27, 2018 - Friday December 21 in Gao, two French helicopters, a Tiger and a NH90 Cayman, have been training to refuel in daytime and at night from a British Chinook.
After the installation of two fuel refueling lines, the fuel was taken directly from the Chinook's tanks using the "kangaroo" procedure.
This training was a first since the arrival of the detachment CH-47 on July 20 in the Force Barkhane.
British personnel worked with French technicians to make this procedure work. In an area of operation the size of Europe with few logistic plots, refueling helicopters is a permanent constraint for crews. While the CH-47s can carry up to 3.5 tonnes of cargo, they can also deliver nearly 2,000 liters of fuel to refuel other aircraft.
Thus, thanks to the carrying capacity, the other helicopters of the desert combat battle group can more easily be supplied far from their bases without having to deploy a supply pad by land, using flexible trays transported by the Chinook or directly from the tanks of the aircraft.
This training will allow the next implementation of this procedure for future operations.
Led by the French armies in partnership with the G5 Sahel countries, Operation Barkhane was launched on August 1st on the Sahel-Saharan strip (BSS: Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina-Faso).
It brings together around 4,500 military personnel whose mission is to fight against armed terrorist groups and to support the armed forces of partner countries so that they can take this threat into account notably within the framework of the joint G5 Sahel force currently under way.
French Army Aviation (ALAT) Tiger HAD and NH90 TTH Caiman