No. 92 Wing is the maritime patrol

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

of the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

. Headquartered at

RAAF Base Edinburgh RAAF Base Edinburgh is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military airbase located in Edinburgh approximately north of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia and forms part of the Edinburgh Defence Precinct. The base is primarily home to No 9 ...

, 92WG is part of the Surveillance and Response Group, and with the transitioning of No. 10 Squadron to 42 Wing with effect 1 May 2019 - 92 Wing currently comprises two squadrons - No. 11 Squadron for operational duty, and No. 292 Squadron for training. The wing also has a detachment headquarters at

RMAF Base Butterworth RMAF Butterworth ( ms, TUDM Butterworth) is an active Air Force Station of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) situated from Butterworth in Penang, Malaysia. It is currently home to the ''Headquarters Integrated Area Defence System'' (HQIA ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. 92WG operates 12 P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. The P-8A is multi-role platform, capable of F2T2EA. Its roles include

anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

and anti-surface surveillance and warfare, for which the aircraft are equipped with MK54 torpedoes and Harpoon anti shipping missiles. It is also responsible for long range intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and maritime attack missions, Naval support and search and survivor supply missions. The Australian Maritime search area of responsibility constitutes approximately 11% of the Earth's surface, the largest area of responsibility for any single country.

Recent history

The return to Australia of the No 92 Wing Detachment in the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) in November 2012 marked the end of the longest deployment of an Air Force element on combat operations to date. While based in the Middle East, the aircraft and crews flew missions for three separate operations (

Operation Slipper The Australian contribution to the war in Afghanistan has been known as Operation Slipper (2001–2014) and Operation Highroad (2015-2021). Australian Defence Force (ADF) operations and the size of the forces deployed have varied and ADF invo ...

Operation Catalyst Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

and

Operation Falconer Falconer may refer to: * A person skilled in the art of falconry People * Falconer (surname), a family name * Falconer Larkworthy (1833–1928), New Zealand banker and financier * Falconer Madan (1851—1935), librarian of the Bodleian Librar ...

). During this highly successful 10-year deployment, both the character of missions and the tactics employed to achieve success changed markedly. The

AP-3C Orion The Lockheed AP-3C Orion is a variant of the P-3 Orion used by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) for tasks such as naval fleet support, maritime surveillance, search and survivor supply and anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare. The 18 A ...

detachments conducted more than 2400 missions, comprising more than 22,300 hours of flying over Iraq, Afghanistan,

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

and off the Somali coast. In late-June 2017 two No. 10 Squadron

aircraft were deployed to the southern Philippines to assist during the

Marawi crisis The siege of Marawi ( fil, Pagkubkob sa Marawi), also known as the Marawi crisis (), and the Battle of Marawi (), was a five-month-long armed conflict in Marawi, Philippines, that started on May 23, 2017, between Philippine government security ...

. No. 11 Squadron has taken delivery of 12 P-8A Poseidon, the first of which arrived at RAAF Base Edinburgh in November 2016, and the last arriving December 2019. No. 292 Squadron has been equipped with new P-8A Poseidon operational flight and mission simulators. These P-8A Poseidon aircraft have replaced the

which first entered military service in 1962 and became the 'work horse' of No. 10 Squadron and No. 11 Squadron which both have histories dating back to World War II. In April 2018 a No. 11 Squadron P-8A Poseidon was deployed to Japan to conduct maritime surveillance to prevent sanctions evasions by North Korea. No. 92 Wing aircraft have subsequently been periodically deployed to the region as part of

Operation Argos Operation Argos is the Australian Defence Force's contribution to the international effort to enforce United Nations' sanctions against North Korea. The operation began in 2018, and is ongoing as of 2021. The Australian effort is focused on detec ...

. In October 2019 a No. 11 Squadron P-8A Poseidon was deployed to the Middle East in support of a US-led

International Maritime Security Construct The International Maritime Security Construct (IMSC) is a consortium of countries whose official stated aim is the maintenance of order and security in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Gulf of Aden and Southern Red Sea, particularly regarding marit ...

, which includes forces from the US, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UK. In January 2020, during the devastating and unprecedented Australia wide bush fires, a No. 11 Squadron P-8A Poseidon was utilised under the Emergency Defence Assistance to the Civil Community role as a surveillance asset for Operation Bushfire Assist.

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 92 Military units and formations established in 1977