Brief history Sierre Leone is situated on the West Coast of Africa. It gained independence from Britain on 27 April 1961 and therefore, English is still the official language. It suffered a long civil war, from 1991 until 2002 and was troubled by an Ebola outbreak in 2014.
Despite these trying times, the Defence Forces have formed and outlined a modest ambition in a 2004 white paper. The Joint Force Command was formed and the helicopters were organized into the so called Air Wing. It is situated at Cockerill barracks heliport, at the SLAF HQ in Freetown.