SECRET UK EYES A
Liaison Office to the Polisario in Algeria.
OOA OPERATIONS, DEPLOYMENTS AND EXERCISES 1990/1991
OPERATIONS
29. In reviewing operations conducted during the period it is impossible to overstate the huge impact that GRANBY had on virtually all aspects of defence operations. For 8 months the crisis and then the war totally dominated events; and the period after the cease fire has
has similarly required comprehensive support through a further series of operations and humanitarian relief efforts such as Operations HAVEN and WARDEN. Some of these are still in being and are highlighted in Annex J.
30. The scale of the undertaking for GRANBY was greatly in excess of our previous plans for OOA operations and lessons learnt on the logistic support implications of this size of deployment were particularly valuable.
The experience reinforced some well known principles of war, the most important in this type of operation being the early establishment of clear and workable command and control (C2) arrangements at the political and military levels. As a result of our commitment to the Gulf during GRANBY our relations with the Gulf states are more active than would have otherwise been the case; we are exploring exercise options and military advice and training to the Gulf states and, although the US is generally in a more prominent position, our profile is high.
31. The Current Operations Group (COG) has met ** times during the 24 months period (as at 31 Dec 91) for 00A operations and exercises:
32.
over
[a list with month, name of operation, brief description)
Operations in which we have had significant involvement the period include Operation BACTON (arrangements for extraction to UK of released UK hostages from the Middle East in August and September 91), Operation MANNA (relief work in summer 1991 in Bangladesh following severe cyclonic flooding), and continuing assistance by Special Forces and other UK military units to the Colombian government.
EXERCISES
33.
Operation GRANBY's impact upon the Exercise Programme. Mindful that Defence Relations worldwide
Relations worldwide are often led by the exercise link, care was taken during GRANBY to allay fears that might have been caused by a
caused by a perceived lack of commitment to countries and treaties resulting from cancellation of exercises. Fortuitously, in anticipation of the heavy commitment of
of Ex PURPLE VICTORY 91, a major live exercise to have been held in Jordan, Defence sponsored overseas exercises in 1991 were
11
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SECRET UK EYES A