Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, commonly referred to as RNAS Yeovilton, is an airbase of the Royal Navy, sited a few miles north of Yeovil, in the English county of Somerset. It is one of two active Fleet Air Arm bases, the other being RNAS Culdrose. RNAS Yeovilton is currently home to the Royal Navy Wildcat HMA2, along with Army Air Corps Wildcat AH1 helicopters, as well as the Royal Navy's Commando Helicopter Force Merlin HCi3/4/4A and Wildcat AH1 helicopters.
Commando Helicopter Force (CHF) is a unit of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm and an element of the Joint Aviation Command of the British Armed Forces. Its primary role is to provide Rotary-Wing support to 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines and other UK force elements in the amphibious environment. CHF uses a combination of transport helicopters based at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset, England.
The Wildcat Demo Team are the Royal Navy's helicopter aerobatics display team. The team is composed of two AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA.2 anti-submarine (ASW) and anti-surface (ASuW) helicopters, with the aircraft and crews drawn from 825 Naval Air Squadron, based at RNAS Yeovilton , in Somerset.
700 Naval Air Squadron is an experimental test squadron in the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm.
846 Naval Air Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm.
847 Naval Air Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. It operates AgustaWestland Wildcat AH.1 helicopters and provides armed reconnaissance and light transport support to 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines. Along with 845 and 846 naval air squadrons, it forms part of the Commando Helicopter Force. The squadron was re-formed from 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron on 1 September 1995.
702 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which last disbanded in August 2014. It was last based at HMS Heron, RNAS Yeovilton, Somerset and earlier at HMS Osprey, RNAS Portland, Dorset. As a training squadron it trained all ground and air crew for the sister front-line maritime Lynx unit, 815 Naval Air Squadron. It initially formed during July 1936 as a Catapult Flight for the 2nd Battle Squadron based at RAF Mount Batten and routinely embarking in RN ships such as, HMS Nelson, HMS Rodney and HMS Resolution. By 1939 it was known as 702 Naval Air Squadron but disbanded in January 1940.
815 Naval Air Squadron is a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron flying the AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA.2 helicopter and is the Navy's front line Wildcat Naval Air Squadron. The squadron is based at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset. The squadron is capable of carrying out multiple roles such as: counter-narcotics, anti-piracy, Above Surface Warfare (ASuW), search and rescue, disaster relief and flying and engineering training. In the early 2000s, the Navy said that the squadron was largest helicopter squadron in Europe.
814 Naval Air Squadron or 814 NAS, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, is a squadron of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. It is currently equipped with the AgustaWestland Merlin HM2 anti-submarine warfare helicopter and is based at Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Culdrose in Cornwall. The squadron was formed in December 1938 and has been disbanded and reformed several times.
825 Naval Air Squadron is a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Naval Air Squadron which was re-commissioned on 10 October 2014 and currently flies the AgustaWestland Wildcat HMA2.
824 Naval Air Squadron is a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron based at RNAS Culdrose and currently operating the AgustaWestland Merlin HM2 Operational Conversion Unit. It trains aircrew in Anti-Submarine warfare and Airborne Surveillance and Control.
The AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat is a military helicopter, developed by the British-Italian helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, and later marketed by the Italian aerospace company Leonardo. It is an improved version of the Westland Super Lynx designed to serve in the battlefield utility, search and rescue, aerial reconnaissance, anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW), utility, command and control, and troop transport duties.
737 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was initially active during 1943 as an amphibious Bomber Reconnaissance Training Squadron. Reactivated in 1944 it operated as an ASV Training Unit until 1945. It was active again between 1949 and 1957. From 1959 it was the Anti-Submarine Warfare school at RNAS Portland. It operated Westland Wessex HAS.3 rescue helicopters from their land base at RNAS Portland, Dorset.
706 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. Established as a fighter and torpedo-bomber training unit in Australia at the end of World War Two, it was briefly reformed as a helicopter squadron in the early 1950s, before becoming a helicopter training unit in 1962, and operating until 1998.
707 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which disbanded during February 1995. It was active during the Second World War forming during February 1945 as a Radar Trials Unit, disbanding in October of the same year. It reformed December 1964, as an Advanced and Operational Flying Training Commando helicopter squadron.
728 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It was formed at the beginning of May in 1943, as a Fleet Requirements Unit, at RN Air Section Gibraltar. It provided detachments at RN Air Section Tafaraoui, in Algeria and later at RAF Oujda in Morocco. Moving to HMS Grebe, RNAS Dekheila, in Egypt, during June, it then merged into 775 Naval Air Squadron during July. It reformed in August, again as a Fleet Requirements Unit, at HMS Grebe, moving immediately to RN Air Section Takali, Malta. It provided target towing both for the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet and the British Army, before later providing a detachment to tow targets for the United States Navy at Naples, Italy. The squadron remained on Malta, alternating between the airbases at Ta Kali, Luqa and Hal Far, until disbanding at the latter, in May 1967.
744 Naval Air Squadron is a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was initially active in 1943, based in Nova Scotia. A second 744 NAS was formed, in early 1944, in Northern Ireland, for Merchant Aircraft Carrier training, meaning the first iteration was re-designated 754 NAS. The squadron's primary focus turned to Anti-submarine warfare training, which then further developed into trialing new submarine detection technology, ending in 1956. In 2018 it reformed as the Mission Systems and Armament Test and Evaluation Squadron.
772 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm which last disbanded during September 1995. 772 Naval Air Squadron formed as a Fleet Requirements Unit out of ‘Y’ Flight from 771 Naval Air Squadron at RNAS Lee-on-Solent in September 1939. While the headquarters remained there, floatplanes were operated out of RNAS Portland, however, mid 1940 saw the whole squadron move north to RNAS Campbeltown and roughly twelve months afterwards the short distance to RNAS Machrihanish. The unit moved to RNAS Ayr in July 1944 and became the Fleet Requirements Unit School. In January 1946 the squadron moved to RNAS Burscough in Lancashire, before moving to RNAS Anthorn in Cumberland, in May. It became the Northern Fleet Requirements Unit upon moving to RNAS Arbroath, in June 1947, but disbanded into 771 Naval Air Squadron in October. 772 Naval Air Squadron reformed as a Helicopter Support Squadron at RNAS Portland in September 1974. In September 1977 the squadron took over responsibility for a number of Ships' Flights of Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships. The squadron was used to reform 848 Naval Air Squadron for the Falklands Task Force in 1982, with the Ships' Flights absorbed into 847 Naval Air Squadron. In August 1982 it took on the Anti-Submarine Warfare Flight from 737 Naval Air Squadron and between 1983 - 1985 a Search and Rescue Flight operated out of RNAS Lee-on-Solent.
Operation Kipion is a long-standing air and maritime presence by the United Kingdom in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean to promote enduring peace and stability in the region, and ensure the safe flow of oil and trade. Up until the early 2020s, a permanent presence of 4 minesweepers formed the Mine Countermeasures element of this tasking. With the gradual withdrawal of the Sandown-class minehunters from the Royal Navy, and their planned replaced with autonomous minehunting systems, the configuration of 9 Mine Countermeasures Squadron is likely to change. The Royal Air Force operations in the broader Middle East also fall under this operation.
United Kingdom 
Royal Navy 
