A-400 Ronin 71 in Exercise Chameleon 26-2 dispatches United Kingdom SOF troops over Leeming DZ. (Photo credit Jonathan Irving)
By Pat Carty.
The last of this year’s UK Special Forces bi-annual “Exercise Chameleon” unfolded across late August and into September. It comprised a concentrated period of RAF tactical airlift, High-Altitude High-Opening (HAHO) parachute operations, and supporting ISTAR activity, centred on UK RAF bases, RAF Gibraltar and RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus.
The workhorses were the RAF C-17 Globemasters (principally ZZ178, with ZZ177 also involved), Atlas A-400s (centred on ZM409), and two RAF 14 Squadron Shadow R.1s (ZZ416 and ZZ507). The A-400s and C-17s flew repeated shuttles between RAF Leeming, Boscombe Down (used whilst RAF Brize Norton was having a runway refurbishment) RAF Gibraltar and RAF Akrotiri, interspersed with a few local low-level sorties, airfield circuits and a handful of HAHO parachute drops over the UK and Mediterranean.
In the opening phase, A-400’s and C-17’s conducted paradrops from RAF Leeming onto a sea DZ, located off the Special Boat Service’s home base at Hamworthy, Poole, together with HAHO paradrops over RAF Leeming and Sculthorpe airfields. During this period, both Shadow R.1’s deployed South via Marseille to Akrotiri, where they flew extended ISTAR orbits before relocating back to RAF Gibraltar. The A-400 and C-17 fleets then began the longer legs: multiple C-17 sorties carrying equipment, Polaris MRZR-D4s – a four-wheel turbocharged diesel variant of the MRZR (or the original MRZR petrol version) together with SOF personnel, between Leeming, Gibraltar and Akrotiri, plus continuing to support the UK element.
Photo: HAHO drop by SOF six-stick. (Credit Pat Carty)
By late August the tempo had peaked. C-17’s and the A-400 staged through Gibraltar to Akrotiri in quick succession, with outbound and recovery legs frequently completed the same day or overnight. The two Shadow R.1’s continued their pattern of long-endurance ISTAR orbits, initially in the RAF Akrotiri area, then later over a three-day period, orbits over RAF Gibraltar.
The exercise continued into early September, with the C-17’s maintaining the UK-Gibraltar shuttle, while the A-400 flew additional low-level sorties over Lincolnshire, the Wolds, the Moors and Wales, plus further HAHO serials near RAF Leeming.
Back in Gibraltar, a number of parachute drops were executed into the sea off the Rock. Support shipping was provided by SD “Northern River” (Serco), which had deployed to Gibraltar. But returned to Plymouth following EndEx later in October.
The final C-17 movements included a closing recovery from Gibraltar, followed by the two RAF Shadow R.1’s returning to their home base at RAF Waddington, bringing the flying programme to a close.
Overall, Exercise Chameleon demonstrated the rapid deployment and interoperability of the Royal Air Force C-17, A-400 and Shadow R.1 force. A combination of long-range airlift into the Mediterranean and ISTAR orbits around Gibraltar, underlined the RAF’s ability to project and sustain Special Operations support at short notice. As for the actual benefits achieved by the SOF troops, the limited number of para insertions suggests the exercise may not have fully delivered what it set out to achieve—though that assessment is, of course, based solely on external observation. As for the crew of the civilian-chartered support ship; SD “Northern River”, which assisted at only a handful of sea paradrops during its ten-week deployment, they appeared to have enjoyed what amounted to a well-paid Mediterranean sojourn.
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Author: Pat Carty is a NATO accredited journalist who covers military news, events, operations, and exercises; including special operations forces. He is a contributor to SOF News as well as several other military defense publications.