New Iraq Mission Deploys Four Additional Griffon Helicopters

By: David Pugliese, Defence Watch 

Canada’s ongoing Iraq mission has a maximum cap of around 850 personnel, according to Department of National Defence officials. There are only around 500 to 600 assigned to the mission currently. So the commitment announced this week by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of 250 personnel will be new personnel heading from Canada to Iraq.

A Canadian Forces Griffon helicopter flies over a Internal Displaced persons camp near Erbil, Iraq, February 20, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz ORG XMIT: RYR112

The new mission will need up to four Griffon helicopters. That will be in addition to the four Griffons already based in Erbil in Northern Iraq.

“This is a new deployment of up to four helicopters, as requested by NATO,” Byrne Furlong, press secretary for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan told Defence Watch.

“This detachment will be capable of transporting personnel and equipment around the NM-I Joint Operations Area,” she added. “These helicopters will be based out of the Taji Military Complex in order to best support of NATO in and around the Baghdad area.”


The heavily fortified complex is in a rural area, 27 kilometres north of Baghdad.

The helicopters will be in Iraq for the next 12 months.

Canadian special forces will remain in Iraq separate from the NATO mission, Furlong explained. “They will continue what they have been doing in the north in and around Mosul,” she added.

Trudeau announces new Canada-led training mission in Iraq

The Canadian Press

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that Canada will assume command of a new NATO training mission in Iraq.

This will include the deployment of up to 250 Canadian Armed Forces personnel for one year beginning in the fall of 2018.

They will be deployed to Baghdad and the surrounding vicinity along with up to four Griffon helicopters to support NATO activities.

Trudeau made the announcement this morning at a discussion session as part of the NATO summit in Brussels.

He described the mission as a natural next step for Canada in the fight against Islamic State militants by continuing to help build institutional capacity in Iraq.

Canada’s leadership of this new NATO training mission will complement existing efforts in the global coalition against ISIL.

Under Operation IMPACT, the Canadian army is already providing training and assistance to the Iraqi security forces and helping regional forces build their capacity.

Canada also contributes mobile training teams to NATO’s counter-improvised explosive device capacity building efforts for Iraq.