For several days, police counter-terrorists from the Central Counter-Terrorist Police Sub-Division (CPKP) “BOA” together with police aviators, GOPR rescuers and Border Guard and Internal Security Agency officers practised various scenarios of combat and rescue operations using the police S-70i Black Hawk helicopter. 

In forested and urbanised terrain, by the river and in wetlands, both during the day and at night, they honed their skills, which in real conditions determine the success of an action.

The intensive training included exercises in a clearing near a ski jump, landing and evacuation operations of a combat group in an abandoned building and tactical shooting at a firing range in mountainous terrain, exercises at the Solina Dam and on an island located on the San River. 

According to Police Headquarters, a large part of the scenarios was carried out using a police Black Hawk. “For example, drills were held on critical infrastructure facilities such as the power plant on the Solina Dam or, taking advantage of the natural shape of the San River, including islands on the river, a landing and evacuation from a confined space was practised”, says Chief of the Police Aviation Board of the Main Police Headquarters KGP insp. pilot Robert Sitek, and adds that the workshops also made it possible to improve skills in undertaking operational activities after dark. Such training during staged events in various locations, also in the absence or in conditions of limited visibility, guarantees proper form and full preparation for operations in a threatening situation.

The just-concluded one-week workshop in the Bieszczady Mountains is one of a whole series of trainings that help participants develop mechanisms of desired behaviour and improve their skills needed to act in real conditions, especially when there is a need for fast and dynamic transport, boarding or evacuation of officers on board a police helicopter and the need to coordinate actions with other services.

Adrian Andrzejewski