1994 British Army Lynx shootdown

On 19 March 1994, a British Army Lynx helicopter was shot down by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland. A unit of the IRA's South Armagh Brigade fired a heavy improvised mortar at the British Army base in Crossmaglen, County Armagh. The mortar round hit and shot down the helicopter, serial number ZD275, while it was hovering over the helipad. Three British soldiers and a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) member were wounded.

Background

Since the 1970s, the IRA developed a series of home-made mortars. The goal was to produce devices to be used as "stand-off" weapons, capable of being launched from safe ranges upon police or military outposts and easy to conceal on dead-ground. The development by the provisionals of the Mark 10 mortar multiple-launched mortar led the IRA South Armagh Brigade to conceive the idea of using this type of weapon to engage helicopters as they were hovering over border bases. On 22 June 1983, the IRA attempted to shoot down a Wessex helicopter with a battery of Mark 10 improvised mortars over Crossmaglen, County Armagh. The pilot was forced to undertake an evasive manoeuvre, dropping the helicopter's cargo into the street below. Four mortars failed to explode and the rest landed in the vicinity of the base, causing some damage and slightly injuring a British soldier. A subsequent investigation found that if the mortar base plate had been aligned "five to ten degrees" differently the projectiles likely would have hit the helicopter.

The different improvised mortar designs evolved in 1992 into the Mark 15 mortar, widely known as the "barrack buster". The mortar shell consisted of a one metre long metal propane cylinder with a diameter of 36 cm that contained around 70 kg of home-made explosives and with a range between 75 and 275 m. The cylinder was an adaptation of a commercial 'Kosangas' gas cylinder for heating and cooking gas used in rural areas in Ireland. The first use of the "barrack buster" took place on 7 December 1992 against a joint RUC/British Army base in Ballygawley, County Tyrone. On 11 June 1993, there was a previous IRA bid to shoot down a Puma helicopter taking off from the Crossmaglen base with a Mark 15 mortar. The barrack buster, fired from the back of a local baker's delivery van, exploded on the helipad shortly after the pilot had managed to take off. Two Lynx helicopters escorting the Puma were unable to prevent the attack. The IRA action was carried out to coincide with a one-day visit to Northern Ireland by Queen Elizabeth.