4th Special Forces Helicopter Regiment
military unit
The 4e Régiment d'Hélicoptères des Forces Spéciales (English: 4th Special Forces Helicopter Regiment) or 4e RHFS is the special operations unit of the French Army Light Aviation. It is part of the French Army Special Forces Command, therefore of the Special Operations Command. It is based in Pau.
Created in 1997, the 4e RHFS' mission is to transport and provide air support to the other special forces units anywhere in the world.
Organization
The regiment is divided into Special Forces Flights (Escadrilles des Operations Speciales):
EOS 1 – Puma and Cougar
EOS 2 – Gazelle
EOS 3 – Caracals
EOS 4/GIH – Pumas
EOS 6 – Tigre
EOS 7 – Support Flight
EOS 8 – Helicopter Maintenance Flight
The regiment employs the following helicopters in 2016:
10 Eurcopter AS532 UL/AL Cougar
12 Aérospatiale Gazelle
7 Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma and Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma
6 Eurocopter Tigre HAD
? Eurocopter EC725 Caracal
See also
Italian 3rd Special Operations Helicopter Regiment
U.S. 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment - Night Stalkers
Australian 171st Special Operations Aviation Squadron
British Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing
Canadian 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron
References
External links
official French Army page
M134 Minigun - side mounted on Gazelle helicopters.
The public source identifies “4th Special Forces Helicopter Regiment” as military unit. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Special, Forces and Helicopter.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “4th Special Forces Helicopter Regiment”, the useful work is to connect “military unit” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 4, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1270760. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1997 and 2016.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “4th Special Forces Helicopter Regiment”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 4th Special Forces Helicopter Regiment primary sources, 4th Special Forces Helicopter Regiment archive and Special research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “4th Special Forces Helicopter Regiment”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “4th Special Forces Helicopter Regiment” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.