Navy Helicopter Operations in the Arabian Gulf During Desert Shield and Storm

What the attendees will learn:
How a multi-national task force used helicopters during Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Overview:
During Desert Shield/Storm, Marc was responsible for tasking and operational control of 140+ helicopters flown from pilots from 14 nations. This is his “Grandpa, what did you do during Desert Storm?” talk.

Navy and Army helicopter missions ranged from supporting Navy SEALs, combat search and rescue, counter smuggling and surveillance of neutral shipping in the Arabian Gulf. His presentation covers the types of missions flown, including how to use the U.S. Navy’s SH-60B helicopter as an airborne command and control platform to vector Royal Navy Lynx helicopters into position to shoot their Sea Skua missiles at Iraqi ships.

Marc also covers the challenges of tasking and controlling the helicopters from countries that included allies, former enemies as well as those who from non-aligned countries. At the end, he tells five sea stories that never made the news.