 Its first tour of duty was on board RFA Fort Austin for a five-month deployment to the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, with aims of denying the passage of the seas to Al Qaeda, pirates, traffickers and smugglers.The squadron then headed to NAS Norfolk in Virginia, United States, for exercises with United States Navy fighter planes and carrier battle groups.857 NAS returned to the Middle East in the first half of 2008, replacing its sister squadron 854 NAS on Operation Calash.