Evacuation from Port Sudan New International Airport May 2023 Operation Polarbear

Rishi Sunak was within hours of sending British paratroopers into Sudan and the mission would have been the largest British parachute drop on operations since the Suez Crisis of 1956. British Airborne troops were just hours away from conducting the first battalion parachute drop in almost 70 years, after Rishi Sunak gave the go-ahead for a special operation during the Sudan Crisis, The Telegraph can reveal. Military chiefs ordered plans to be drawn up for a parachute insertion to secure a second evacuation point during the Sudan emergency, in case the first was compromised. As the security situation in Sudan worsened, soldiers from 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment (3 PARA), were deployed to Cyprus as a quick-reaction force in support of the Ministry of Defence’s evacuation operation. The Prime Minister was briefed on contingency plans at a Cobra meeting in London, as British troops started evacuating civilians in RAF C130 and A400M transport aircraft.

The Telegraph understands the MoD sent 200 parachutes to Cyprus as it considered the chances of the mission going ahead as “very likely.” Rishi Sunak was told specialists from the Royal Engineers on the ground at the Wadi Seidna airbase, around 20 miles north of the capital, Khartoum, had warned the tarmac runway was in danger of breaking up, given the sudden influx of international evacuation forces. Orders for 3 PARA to plan to secure a second airfield was taken after a Turkish aircraft was hit by gunfire as it landed at Wadi Seidna on the 27th April, wounding one crewmember (ABN Editor: A Turkish evacuation plane was fired upon and hit by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan’s army said. According to the country’s armed forces the Turkish evacuation plane was landing at Wadi Seidna airfield, near Khartoum, when its fuel system was damaged. Photos showing damage to a Turkish aircraft that landed in Sudan on Friday, 28th April 2023, were shared on social media by a military blogger. The photos show a bullet hole in the exterior of the aircraft and fluid leaking from aircraft.  The damaged aircraft shown online is a C-130 Hercules and the registration number shown matches an aircraft that landed at Wadi Seidna airfield on the 28 April, and RSF were thought to be responsible for the shooting although they denied it).

French forces also reported a Special Forces soldier was shot as they evacuated civilians from Khartoum and remains gravely ill. Two companies of airborne troops were put on standby for the UK rescue mission, which would have been the first operational parachute drop by a British unit other than Special Forces in almost 70 years. In the early hours of the 29 April, reservists from 4 PARA were ordered to report to their Army Reserve locations. They flew to the forward mounting base at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, later that day. The likely date for the parachute insertion was around the 30 April. The mission was called off with just hours to go as the situation on the ground improved. (ABN Editor: this has shades of Operation Boris in 1964 when D Company Group 2 PARA were forward-based in Aden from their base in Bahrain. They were never used, but were deployed close to the then Yemen border in Dhala instead where they remained for approximately six weeks. See Op Parthenon, Op Boris, Op Finery and Op Shed It would have been onto the airfield and would have been a `hot’ DZ) With the advent of highly sophisticated air-defence systems, some policymakers believe there is no place for military parachuting to be continued as a means of inserting troops into action. Major General Jonathan Shaw, a former Colonel Commandant of the Parachute Regiment from 2008 to 2012, said there were always “sceptics” against maintaining the capability, “but always enough sensible people who keep it on the table.” “The Government should feel happy they have still got the option,” General Shaw told The Telegraph, “which is why they should not get rid of it.” Unlike airmen bailing out from disabled aircraft, paratroopers have no protection under the Geneva Convention and can be targetted while vulnerable in the air. As such, jumps are conducted at low altitudes and high speed, but parachute-qualified personnel receive a pay supplement to compensate for the risks involved. Although jump training is conducted at 1,000ft, the current in-service Mk 1 Low Level Parachute is cleared for altitudes as low as 400ft. With a descent rate of two minutes per 1,000ft, one paratrooper told The Telegraph that the landing was more of a “controlled crash”, or like “jumping from a 6ft wall. Paratroopers “smash the ground [and are] dragged along until the parachute loses enough air to enable the friction of the body against the ground to bring the soldier to a stop.” Dropping in locations such as Sudan, where the air is usually thinner than in the UK, would likely have resulted in a faster drop. (ABN Editor: so were A Company Group of 3 PARA Group the last Brits to drop in Sudan mounting from Wadi Seidna on the 26 November 1975, although it was an exercise and not an operation, I wonder?) 

The final UK evacuation flight departed from Port Sudan airport late on the 3 May after an eight-day, multi-route evacuation. The UK helped evacuate more than 1,200 people from other nations, including the US, Ireland, Netherlands, Canada, Germany, and Australia. Speaking after the operation, James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, said: “The UK has coordinated the longest and largest evacuation of any Western country and brought 2,450 people to safety from Sudan. “We remain focussed on supporting those who are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance and continue to press for a long-term ceasefire.” Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said: “I am truly grateful for the dedication and professionalism of the men and women of our Armed Forces who have evacuated more than 2,000 people from Sudan from over 20 counties and continue to provide medical and humanitarian support from Port Sudan, supported by the Royal Air Force. “Their efforts are a source of national pride.” An MoD spokesperson said: “We are grateful to all personnel from across the three services who took part in the successful operation, which saw more than 2,450 people evacuated aboard 30 flights, the longest and largest evacuation of any Western nation.”