160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne)

In October 1981, the unit was designated officially the 160th Aviation Battalion. The 160th first saw combat during 1983's Operation Urgent Fury, the U.S. invasion of Grenada. In 1986, the unit was redesignated as the 160th Aviation Group (Airborne). The modern-day 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) was activated officially in June 1990. As demand for highly trained Special Operations Aviation assets grew, the regiment activated three battalions, a separate detachment and incorporated one Army National Guard Battalion. The three battalions replaced the separate aviation detachments at the Special Forces Groups. In July 2007, the regiment activated a fourth battalion to meet growing special operations forces requirements. Eventually 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions will be organized identically with two Chinook companies, a Blackhawk company and a maintenance company. In July 2010, a Gray Eagle Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) element from Fort Huachuca, Arizona, was assigned to Special Operations. The element was rebranded with the USASOC patch and deployed to Afghanistan. Two Gray Eagle companies eventually will be stationed at Fort Campbell. Some of the named operations the 160th has participated in include Urgent Fury, Prime Chance, Just Cause, Desert Storm, Gothic Serpent (led to the Battle of Mogadishu), Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. The 160th SOAR recently incorporated its first Gray Eagle company.