5 Naval Air Wing

5 Naval Air Wing is responsible for the operation of all German Navy helicopters. The dedicated area of operations of its Sea Lynx Mk 88A anti-submarine helicopters is the sea. Employed as ship-borne helicopters, they are an integral part of the frigate weapon system. When performing their main task, the helicopters usually work in tandems: one of the Lynx helicopters carries a sonar system, the second one carries torpedoes. Together, they substantially extend their host ship’s engagement range.

The helicopters are also deployed when the frigate on which they are embarked detects a suspicious unknown ship in the sea area under surveillance. They are able to monitor such contacts from the air and transport and drop boarding teams, if necessary.

Live-Savers of the Navy

The NHNATO-Helicopter-90 NTHNaval Transport Helicopter Sea Lion multi-purpose helicopters are on search-and-rescue duty 24/7 all year round. Their SARSearch and Rescue coordination centre is based at Glücksburg from where orders for rescue flights are issued to naval aviation forces when distress calls are received. Alert stations are also located on the islands of Heligoland and Borkum and at Rostock-Warnemünde.

The Sea Lions can be embarked on the Navy’s combat support ships where their main tasks are to transport people and material and to conduct surveillance. Last but not least, these helicopters support the Bundeswehr’s special operations forces and specialised forces, especially when it comes to deploying them for littoral operations or missions at sea.

5 Naval Air Wing also includes two training squadrons, which are responsible for providing advanced flight and engineering training to naval aviation forces and basic and general training to all prospective helicopter and aircraft pilots and crews of the German Navy.