The U.S. State Department has confirmed that seven
CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters, also colloquially known as "Phrogs," belonging to its Air Wing have been rendered inoperable and abandoned in Afghanistan as part
of the ongoing evacuation effort. This non-combatant evacuation operation, or NEO, could very well be the last major mission ever for any Sea Knight belonging to the U.S. government, with the State Department already in the process of divesting its entire fleet.
In addition, the Pentagon says that this NEO
could be the second largest in American military history, the other being the evacuation of Americans and others from South Vietnam in 1975. As
The War Zonehas already reported, there is evidence that at least one of the State Department's now-abandoned Sea Knights in Afghanistan, which it originally obtained second-hand from the U.S. Marine Corps, took part in both operations.
US ARMYA US State Department CH-46E Sea Knight with US civil registration code N38TU. There is evidence that points to the possibility that this helicopter, then in service with the US Marine Corps, took part in Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Americans and others from South Vietnam in 1975, and then also helped get people from the US Embassy in Kabul to nearby Hamird Karzai International Airport on Aug. 15, 2021.
"The Department left seven CH-46 helicopters behind in Afghanistan which were rendered inoperable," a State Department official, speaking on background, told
The War Zone. "These helicopters were already being phased out of the Department’s inventory and were slated for eventual destruction due to age and supportability issues."