Australian contribution to the 1991 Gulf War of Operation Provide Comfort. While there were proposals to deploy other units (including an apparent US request for RF-111 reconnaissance aircraft) these proposals came to nothing and no Australian Army or Royal Australian Air Force combat units were deployed. The Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) did not take part in the war. In 1993, a book was published on a British SAS patrol Bravo Two Zero with an Australian member using the pseudonym of Stan. Subsequent media reports stated that SASR soldiers on exchange took part in the war, however, in 2005 it was disclosed that Stan was a
Armilla patrol or by frigates or destroyers transiting the area for other operations in the Far East or Pacific. The largest British presence in the Persian Gulf during the Armilla patrol was during the two operations against Iraq. In 1991, eight Royal Navy ships supported by a number of RFA vessels were sent to the area. In 2003, over 30 British warships and auxiliaries were involved in the invasion of Iraq. A number of vessels, including minesweepers, survey vessels and submarines, are periodically rotated through the area to provide additional capability. Beginning in 2006 the surface combatant deployed was tasked with patrol