page_title: Irish Air Corps
section_title: Capabilities
hierarchical_section_title: Irish Air Corps / Capabilities
caption_attribution_description: This is the EMS version of the AW.139 and had only just been delivered when I snapped it at its base last June
context_page_description: The Air Corps is the air component of the Defence Forces of Ireland. Through a fleet of fixed and rotary wing aircraft, it provides military support to the Army and Naval Service, together with non-military air services such as Garda air support, air ambulance, fisheries protection and the Ministerial Air Transport Service. Its headquarters and airfield is Casement Aerodrome located at Baldonnel, County Dublin.
context_section_description: The Air Corps military roles and the functions it carries out are those of an army air corps rather than that of a conventional military air force. The Air Corps air space control and ground attack capacity is limited to low-level and limited weather. 
  Helicopter tactical troop transport is available on a 24-hour basis through the introduction of Night Vision Goggles. The Air Corps non-military capabilities in aid to the civil power and other Government departments include ministerial transport, fishery protection, 24-hour maritime patrolling, Garda air support, search and rescue over both land and sea, an air ambulance service, aerial firefighting, drugs surveillance and non-combatant evacuation. The Air Corps provides the State with the capacity to meet security and contingent roles but only receives 12% of Defence Forces funding (see Dáil Defence Vote 2014).
caption: An Air Corps AgustaWestland AW139
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