The ''Marinefliegerkommando'' (Naval Aviation Command) is the naval air arm of the

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is part of the unified (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Marine'' (German Navy) became the official ...

. It is aircraft flown by the Navy of Germany, and mostly consists of helicopters and fixed-wing maritime patrol aircraft, as well as types of drones. Naval helicopters can operate from ships, and some of their roles include utility and supply tasks, search and rescue, and ASW or naval warfare. The fixed-wing aircraft operate from land bases but will patrol over open water. The Navy also operates training aircraft and unmanned drones. Naval aviation is subordinate to the German Navy, separate from the

German Air Force The German Air Force (, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ) was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as the aerial warfare branch of the armed forces of West Ger ...

History

During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, naval aviators were part of the . After the war Germany was no longer allowed to maintain a military aviation capability. Heer and Marine both attempted to nevertheless maintain theoretical and practical knowledge of air warfare through concealed activities such as pilot training efforts. After the

National Socialists Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

had risen to power, these activities intensified until

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

unilaterally declared its withdrawal from armament limitations in 1935. The nascent rump naval air arm was quickly absorbed by

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

's newly established . However, as a component of the air force, the ''Seeflieger'' maintained their organisational structure. A carrier-based aviation component was planned for the aircraft carrier ''Graf Zeppelin'', laid down in 1936, but lack of suitable aircraft, coupled with the reluctance of the ''Luftwaffe'' to support the ''

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

'' in the carrier's construction, culminated in its eventual cancellation in 1943. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it was not until

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

's entry into

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

in the 1950s and the establishment of the ''

Bundesmarine The German Navy (, ) is part of the unified (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Marine'' (German Navy) became the official ...

'', that a naval aviation force (''Marineflieger'') was formed. The United Kingdom was instrumental in the creation of the ''Marineflieger'', supplying training and aircraft. A number of

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

(FAA) officers operated as part of the

in the process. The first aircraft included

Hawker Sea Hawk The Hawker Sea Hawk is a British single-seat jet day fighter formerly of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), the air branch of the Royal Navy (RN), built by Hawker Aircraft and its sister company, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. Although its design originat ...

s, which were used by ''Marinefliegergeschwader'' 1 and 2, and

Fairey Gannet The Fairey Gannet is a carrier-borne aircraft that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed for the Royal Navy, being the first fixed-wing aircraft to combine both the search an ...

s. Until the new bases were ready, pilots were trained with the FAA in the UK. The first ''Kommando der Marineflieger'' was created in July 1956 in

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

Holtenau Holtenau (; Danish: Holtenå) is a district of Kiel, on the southeastern part of the Danish Wahld. It was historically part of the Duchy of Schleswig, and has cultural influences from both Germany and Denmark. The district is located at the mouth ...

and elevated to divisional level in 1964, renamed to ''Marinefliegerkommando'' in 1967 and to ''Marinefliegerdivision'' in 1969 as it grew in size. This Naval Aviation Division commanded five wings and several supporting units in total before 1990, including two combat aircraft wings equipped with Lockheed Starfighter fighter aircraft and then the

Panavia Tornado The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multi-role combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany. There are three primary #Variants, Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS ...

. The

maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) was replaced with the Bréguet Atlantic. After the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, the unit was renamed to ''Flotille der Marineflieger'' in 1994 and reduced to a brigade-level command. Its last combat aircraft were handed over to the German Air Force in 2005 before the flotilla was dissolved on 30 June 2006. Afterwards, the remaining wings were directly assigned to fleet command until 8 October 2012, when the current ''Marinefliegerkommando'' was created in Nordholz under ''Kapitän zur'' ''See'' Andreas Horstmann, who had already been charged with naval aviation at fleet command in

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

from 2006 to 2009. At the same time the remaining naval aviation aircraft were largely consolidated at

Nordholz Naval Airbase Nordholz Naval Airbase () is a German Naval Air base located near the town of Nordholz in Lower Saxony, 25 km north of Bremerhaven, and 12 km southwest of Cuxhaven. It is the home of Naval Air Command ( Marinefliegerkommando), with ...

Subordinate units

Apart from the staff, two—the 3rd and 5th—wings are currently assigned to the unit.

Naval Air Wing 3 (MFG 3) "Graf Zeppelin"

The German Navy's fixed-wing aircraft, namely eight Lockheed P-3C ''Orion'' MPA taken over from the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy (, ) is the Navy, maritime service branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It traces its history to 8 January 1488, making it the List of navies, third-oldest navy in the world. During the 17th and early 18th centurie ...

and two modified Dornier 228LM pollution control aircraft are assigned to the 3rd wing, ''Marinefliegergeschwader 3 "

Graf Zeppelin Graf Zeppelin () may refer to: People * Count Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin (1838–1917), German officer, engineer, and founder of the Zeppelin airship company * * Eberhard von Zeppelin, Eberhard Moritz Adolph Albert Graf von ...

"''. The unit is also responsible for handling flight operations in Nordholz. It was established in 1964. The wings tasks include surveillance and control of large sea areas as well as maritime warfare against targets above (

ASuW Anti-surface warfare (ASuW or ASUW) is the branch of naval warfare concerned with the suppression of surface combatants. More generally, it is any weapons, sensors, or operations intended to attack or limit the effectiveness of an adversary's s ...

) and below water ( ASW). Pollution control patrols are carried out implementing the

MARPOL 73/78 The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978, or "MARPOL 73/78" (short for "marine pollution") is one of the most important international marine environmental conventions. It ...

convention on behalf of and in cooperation with German civilian authorities, namely the German coastal states and agencies under the Federal Ministry of Transport, who do not maintain the appropriate aircraft themselves. The P-3Cs are to be replaced with eight P-8 Poseidon MPAs from 2024 on in order to avoid a looming capability gap caused by bringing forward the out-of-service date of the P-3Cs to 2025. A prior attempt to extensively refurbish the aircraft and extend their service time to 2035 was abandoned due to cost and technical issues. A technical support group (''Gruppe'') and a flying group, each with two flights (''Staffeln'') make up the unit along with an airbase group which is responsible for logistics, command infrastructure and air traffic: * Staff ** Flying Group *** 1st Flight (P-3C) *** 2nd Flight (P-3C, Do-228LM) ** Technical Group *** Technical Flight (P-3C) *** Technical Flight (general purpose) ** Air Base Group

Naval Air Wing 5 (MFG 5)

''Marinefliegergeschwader 5'' commands the navies rotorcraft fleet of Westland ''Sea Lynx MK 88 A'' and ''Sea King Mk 41'' helicopters, tasked with ship-based anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, transport and special forces support duties and is responsible for search and rescue (SAR) duty in the North and Baltic seas. The ''Sea King'' fleet is currently transitioning to the NH90 ''Sea Lion''. Sea Lion operations began during June 2020 and the wing will eventually have 20 in service. The NH90 in its ''Sea Tiger'' version will also replace the ''Sea Lynx'' from 2025 on as the navies frigate-based helicopter. The unit redeployed in 2012-2013 to Nordholz from Kiel-

where it had been stationed since its creation in 1958. * Staff ** Flying Group *** 1st Flight (Sea Lynx Mk 88 A) *** 2nd Flight (Sea King Mk 41) *** ? Flight (Sea Lion) *** Instruction Flight ** Technical Group *** Technical Flight (Sea Lynx Mk 88 A) *** Technical Flight (Sea King Mk 41) *** Technical Flight (Sea Lion) *** Technical Instruction Flight

Aircraft

The command had 2,500 personnel on active duty in 2020. As of 2019, it operates 54 aircraft.

Current fleet

Future fleet

Contractors

Former fleet

The ''Marineflieger'' previously operated the following aircraft: *

* F-104 G Starfighter *

Breguet Atlantic Breguet may refer to: * Breguet (watch), watch manufacturer **Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), Swiss watchmaker ** Louis-François-Clement Breguet (1804–1883), French physicist, watchmaker, electrical and telegraph work * Breguet Aviation, ...

Dornier Do 28 Dornier Do 28 is a type designation that comprises two different twin-engine STOL utility aircraft, manufactured by German company Dornier GmbH, Dornier Flugzeugbau GmbH. Most of them served with the German Air Force and ''Marineflieger'' and othe ...

* Westland Sea King Mk.41

Gallery

File:Tornado MFG1 RAF Mildenhall 1984.jpeg, A Tornado IDS at RAF Mildenhall in 1984 File:LynxMk88 F-214 1993.JPEG, A

Lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...

helicopter on the

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface on which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters ...

of a German frigate in 1993 File:A2604-Germany-Orion-6001-RIAT2013.JPG, A P-3 Orion painted with a special scheme for the 100th anniversary of the ''Marineflieger'' File:A2730-Germany-SeaKing-8965-RIAT2013.JPG, A Westland Sea King in 2013 File:A2630-Germany-DO228-9835-RIAT2013.JPG, A Dornier 228 in 2013

References

{{Reflist

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20080321114500/http://www.fly-navy.de/index2.html Military units and formations of the Imperial German Navy Military units and formations of the German Navy Military aviation units and formations of Germany in World War I