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NAVOCFORMED, FPDA exercises). The second ship is at 7 days
ptice (making Mombasa AMPS possible) and the Duty Ship may call occasionally at Gulf ports whilst remaining at not more than 8
hours notice for sea. Three MCMVS remain at short notice, 35
days during 1989 and 42 days in 1990, to deploy from home waters.
In March, the 1st MCMV Squadron, supported by RFA DILIGENCE, made
the first visit by RN warships to Aden since the withdrawal of
British Forces in 1967. In May FOF2 flew his flag in HMS ACTIVE
while attending the Spanish Naval Review in Barcelona and in the
same month FOF1 led a successful series of visits to Eastern Bloc
ports.
79. Army. Army deployments, operations and exercises are shown
on the map at Annex G. Deployments have included Operation
PROSPEROUS, the UK's contribution to UNTAG, Namibia. Initially a force Signal Squadron of 170+ strong, this group is now reducing to some 70-80 which includes the Force Signal Officer,
a British Lieutenant Colonel. Post-typhoon supervision of road
· rebuilding on Vanuatu by a 6 man RE team, Operation
COMPREHENSIVE, has continued during the year and is now
complete, and Operation SALAM, mine clearance training for Afghan
refugees in Pakistan, continues. Conducted in Quetta, the
training is being conducted by a 8 man RE contingent with a Lt
Colonel RE as Chief of Staff and in command of the 2 teams from
UK, 4 from the US and, latterly, 4 Afghan teams. The Belize
garrison contributed a 25 strong Engineer Relief and Support Party to Montserrat for a month following the widespread devastation caused in the Caribbean after the passage of
Hurricane Hugo.
The UKLF exercise programme in 1989 has
allowed battalions and company size sub-units to exercise in Australia, Kenya, Oman, Jordan and Jamaica, as well as in Cyprus, Belize and the Falklands. During the course of the year the British Forces Hong Kong overseas exercise programme has taken company size sub-units to Malaysia, New Zealand, Thailand, Brunei
and Hawaii. Army to Army talks took place in New Zealand in
November between the host country, UK and Australia.
80. Royal Air Force.
RAF OOA activity in 1989 is shown on
the map at Annex H. At the request of the FCO, a VC 10 and C130 were held at Hong Kong and Bangkok for a week in June as a
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