Demon Brigade will deploy to Europe once again

The US Army's 7th brigade-sized rotation in support of Atlantic Resolve has begun. At the end of January 2021, small groups of helicopters from the 1st Infantry Division Combat Aviation Brigade Demon Brigade started to arrive from Marshall AAF, Fort Riley (KS) in the Port of Beaumont (TX).

There the helicopters were prepared by the 842nd Transportation Battalion who started loaded the equipment onto the vessel Endurance on 3 February 2021.

According to a local French press publication, the Endurance is scheduled to arrive in the harbour of Dunkerque (France) mid-March 2021. Around sixty helicopters will be offloaded and they are planned to gather at l’aéroport de Calais/Dunkerque prior to departing to Illesheim-Storck Barracks Army Heliport (Germany) for onward deployment through Europe.

It is not yet confirmed if the helicopters will make one or more stops on their way to Illesheim, but these could involve Chievres (Belgium) and the German bases Nörvenich, Spangdahlem and/or Wiesbaden, which are all on the expected route and have been used before in the past. As usual, some 20 helicopters are planned to be offloaded in Greece first, and will deploy to southeast Europe from there.

Units that are reported to be involved in the upcoming rotation from the 1st Infantry Division Combat Aviation Brigade are:

1-1st AVN (ARB) with AH-64E *)
2-1st AVN (GSAB) with A/2-1st AVN UH-60L, B/2/1st AVN CH-47F and C/2-1st AVN HH-60M
3-1st AVN (AHB) with UH-60M
*) From pictures and video clips, one AH-64E (serial 17-03173) was identified still wearing the distinctive B Troop 1/6th CAV markings, the rest was not.

The 1st Infantry Division Combat Aviation Brigade (1st ID CAB), the Big Red One, is no stranger to Europe as their most recent deployment ended in October 2019, just a little over a year ago. Now, the 1st ID CAB will relief the 101st Airborne Division Combat Aviation Brigade that arrived in July 2020. On 1 February 2021, the 101st started their last big exercise, Exercise Combined Resolve XV, in Europe at the Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels training areas in Germany. This exercise, together with ten friendly nations, will end at 5 March 2021.

After the exercise, the aviation elements will gather at Illesheim and prepare for the home journey. There are strong rumours that the port of Rotterdam (the Netherlands) will be used again as the gateway out of Europe. If true one can expect helicopters arriving there from early-mid March. In the past Wiesbaden, Ramstein, Spangdahlem, Nörvenich (all Germany) and Eindhoven (the Netherlands) have been used for a fuel stop before making the last hop to the port. In total sixty helicopters, plus possibly an additional five CH-47F Chinooks of the Oregon National Guard - which are temporary deployed to Europe as well to strengthen 101st CAB - are planned to transit via the Netherlands. It is expected that the vessel Endurance will be used to ship the equipment from 101st CAB (Fort Campbell, KY) back to the United States.

Atlantic Resolve started in April 2014 as a response to the Russian annexation of the Crimea. It was meant to strengthen the borders of the NATO allies bordering the former Soviet Union. Since then troops and equipment have been sent to Europe on a nine month rotational bases. Besides the aviation element, each rotation also involves about 1,500 vehicles and a couple of thousand soldiers.

Below an overview of the brigade-sized aviation rotations so far. Please note that the smaller rotations of 4-3rd AVN and 3-227th AVN in 2015 and 2016 are not included. Shown are the month when the rotation started, the port of arrival, the port of departure and the brigade involved:

The named ports of arrival and departure are the locations where the main element arrived/departed. Smaller elements have used other ports or were even airlifted in or out.

Aircraft involved in the upcoming rotation and identified from pictures so far are:

CH-47F B/2-1st AVN: 15-08194, 15-08466, 15-08196, 16-08199, 16-08200 and 16-08202
AH-64E 1-1st AVN: 17-03173 (Tr B/1/6th CAV markings)

Photos by Jurgen van Toor