Farewells For Raaf Personnel

Special farewell ceremonies will be held this week for Royal Australian Air Force personnel forward deploying to the Middle East to prepare for a potential military campaign against Iraq should diplomacy fail.

The Minister for Defence, Chief of the Defence Force, Chief of Air Force and friends and family to farewell the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft and personnel at a ceremony tomorrow at RAAF base Richmond, New South Wales. The personnel will deploy at a later date.

A farewell ceremony for the F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft will be held on Saturday at RAAF base Tindal, Northern Territory. Deployment will be at a later date.

The Government announced on 1 February 2003 its decision to forward deploy as part of Operation Bastille the squadron of 14 Hornets, the Hercules and an Air Forward Command Element responsible for coordinating air operations with coalition partners and providing national control of RAAF assets. These RAAF elements will join other ADF elements already deploying to the Middle East under Operation Bastille.