The 193 Squadron of the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

(IAF), also known as the Maritime Helicopters Squadron and operates on behalf of the

Israeli Navy The Israeli Navy (, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'', ; ) is the Israel Defense Forces#Arms, naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in the Mediterranean Sea theater as well as the Gulf of Eilat and the Red Sea th ...

. The squadron flies AS565 Panther helicopters.

Aircraft

The squadron was established in June 1987, flying the Eurocopter HH-65A Dolphin from

Palmachim Airbase Palmachim Airbase (, ) is an Israeli Air Force, Israeli Air Force (IAF) base and spaceport, which the IAF and the Israel Space Agency, Israel Space Agency (ISA) operate jointly. It is located west of the city of Yavne on the Mediterranean coas ...

. After the loss of one airframe in 1996, the IAF retired the remaining HH-65A in 1997. Both airframes were test airframes from the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

The squadron is home to seven AS565 Panther helicopters based at either

Ramat David Airbase Ramat David Airbase (, ''Basis Kheil HaAvir Ramat David'', English: David Heights) is an Israeli Air Force (IAF) base located 20 km southeast of Haifa in the Northern District of Israel, close to kibbutz Ramat David in the Jezreel Val ...

. These helicopters are also assigned and can land on the

Sa'ar 5-class corvette Sa'ar 5 () is a class of Israeli Navy corvettes. They were Israeli designed using lessons learned from the s. Three Sa'ar 5 ships were built by Huntington Ingalls Industries (formerly Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation of Pascagoula, Mississ ...

s and

Sa'ar 6-class corvette The Sa'ar 6-class corvette is a series of four German-made corvettes ordered for the Israeli Navy in May 2015. These are operated by Shayetet 3 flotilla. Development The ships' design is loosely based on the German , but with engineering ch ...

. The Squadron suffered two fatal crashes, first in September 16th 1996 killing two airmen and a naval officer 1996 Eurocopter HH-65 Israeli Navy Helicopter Crash, second crash took place on January 3rd, 2022 killing two airmen and injuring a naval officer 2022 Israeli Air Force AS565 Panther Helicopter Crash. In 2015 the IAF ordered eight

Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk The Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk (or Sea Hawk) is a twin turboshaft engine, multi-mission United States Navy helicopter based on the United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk and a member of the Sikorsky S-70 family. The most significant modificati ...

s (US Navy surplus) to replace the Panthers, with delivery expected in 2024.

Operations

Anti Smuggling Operation

On May 5, 2001, the squadron took part in the capture of the ship " Santorini " which left northern Lebanon towards the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

carrying many weapons intended for the Gaza militants. On May 21, 2003, the squadron took part in the capture of the ship "Abu Hassan" which was sailing in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

on its way from

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

to the

. The squadron operated alongside the sea patrol arm in Squadron 120, which operates seagull aircraft, and in cooperation with the Steel Fleet in locating and tracking the ship, and also accompanied

Shayetet 13 Shayetet 13 () is a naval commando unit of the Israeli Navy and one of the primary sayeret, reconnaissance units of the Israel Defense Forces. Shayetet 13 specializes in sea-to-land incursions, counter-terrorism, sabotage, maritime intelligence ...

in the operation to take over the ship, which was carried out successfully.

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

member Hamad Maslam Musabu Hamra was captured on the ship and with him a device Combat and many training materials intended for Palestinians.

Second Lebanon War

On July 14, 2006, around 8:30 p.m., while operating off the coast of Beirut in the

Second Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

INS Hanit INS ''Hanit'' (503) (, ''Spear'') is a of the Israeli Navy's 3rd Flotilla, built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in 1994. During the 2006 Lebanon War INS Hanit served as the flagship of the Israeli navy. On 14 July 2006, it was damaged aft ...

was hit in the rear by a C-802 anti-ship missile launched by

. The missile hit a crane in the stern, armed, but did not penetrate the steel crane structure and slipped. A fire broke out in the right section under the helipad, and four soldiers were killed: Major Dov Sternshus, who was in charge of training and an aircraft mechanic in the squadron, and Sgt. Tal Amgar, who served as an avionics technician in the squadron. A "bat" helicopter that was on the airstrip was damaged by the missile and was taken out of the squadron headquarters for repairs. On August 11, 2008, a ceremony was held at the

to mark the return of the

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

, which underwent a series of repairs and tests by the base's maintenance squadron.

Emblem

The squadron's emblem was designed by the graphic artist Orna Shefa, at the request of her brother and the first commander of the squadron, Lt. Col. Moshe Ararat. The emblem she designed beat all the proposals of the Air Force's graphic artists. The emblem shows a " manta ray " type fish whose floating motion in the water represents the combination of Flight and sailing.

References