[3] Early on, the Gazelle attracted British interest, which resulted in a major production work share agreement between Sud Aviation and Westland.

Under the terms of the agreement, Westland would have a 65% work share in the manufacturing of the units destined for the British military, and be a partner to Sud Aviation on further refinements and upgrades to the Gazelle.

The deal, signed in February 1967, allowed the production in Britain of 292 Gazelles and 48 Sud Aviation SA 330 Puma medium transport helicopters ordered by the British armed forces.

[6] In service with the French Army Light Aviation (ALAT), the Gazelle was used primarily as an anti-tank gunship (SA 342M) armed with Euromissile HOT missiles.

[1] As the Gazelle became progressively older, newer combat helicopters were brought into service in the anti-tank role; thus those aircraft previously configured as attack helicopters were often repurposed for other, secondary support duties, such as an air observation post (AOP) for directing artillery fire, airborne forward air controller (ABFAC) to direct ground-attack aircraft, casualty evacuation, liaison, and communications relay missions.

Armed variants would carry up to four HOT (Haut subsonique Optiquement Téléguidé Tiré d'un Tube) wire-guided anti-tank missiles, or a forward firing 20mm cannon mounted to the fuselage sides with its ammunition supply placed in the cabin.

[17] Various optional equipment can be installed upon the Gazelle, such as fittings for engine noise suppression, 53 gallon ferry tanks, a rescue winch capable of lifting up to 390 pounds, emergency flotation gear, particle filter, high landing skids, cabin heater, adjustable landing lights, and engine anti-icing systems.

[14][25] As the Gazelle continued to serve into the 21st century, several major modernisation and upgrade programs were undertaken, commonly adding new avionics to increase its capabilities.

The small fleet was used to develop anti-armour warfare tactics, Gazelles have also been frequently used to simulate hostile forces during military training exercises.

[29] The French Army has deployed the Gazelle overseas in many large-scale operations, often in support of international military interventions; including in Chad (in the 1980s),[30] the former Yugoslavia (1990s), Djibouti (1991–1992),[31] Somalia (1993), Côte d'Ivoire (2002–present) and Afghanistan (2002–2021).

[33] During the coalition's offensive into Kuwait, French Gazelles adopted a tactic of strafing enemy tanks, vehicles, and bunkers in continuous waves at high speed.

In April 2011, as part of a UN-mandated campaign in Côte d'Ivoire, four Gazelle attack helicopters, accompanied by two Mil Mi-24 gunships, opened fire upon the compound of rebel president Gbagbo to neutralise heavy weaponry, which led to his surrender.

[45] In 2003, US intelligence officials alleged that a French firm had continued to sell spare components for the Gazelle and other French-built aircraft to Iraq via a third-party trading company, despite an embargo being in place.

[52] Following the end of the war, the Syrian Army would claim that significant damage had been delivered against Israeli forces, such as the destruction of 30 tanks and 50 other vehicles, against the loss of five helicopters.

[52] Gazelles were also used several times in Syria during its civil war, most recently being seen supporting troops in the Palmyra Offensive using unguided missiles and HOT ATGMs.

[55] During the 1991 Gulf War, roughly 15 Gazelles were able to retreat into neighbouring Saudi Arabia, along with other elements of Kuwait's armed forces, during the invasion of the nation by Iraq.

[57] The Gazelle was used by the Ecuadoran Army during the 1995 Cenepa war between Ecuador and neighboring Peru, performing missions such as close air support and escorting other helicopters.

660 Squadron AAC, based in Salamanca Barracks, Germany, was the first British Army unit to be equipped with Gazelles, entering operational service on 6 July 1974.

The Gazelles, replacements for the Sioux, were assigned the roles of reconnaissance, troop deployment, direction of artillery fire, casualty evacuation and anti-tank operations.

On 17 February 1978, a British Army Gazelle crashed near Jonesborough, County Armagh, after coming under fire from the Provisional IRA during a ground skirmish.

Under a rapidly performed crash programme specifically for the Falklands conflict, Gazelles were fitted with 68mm SNEB rocket pods and various other optional equipment such as armour plating, flotation gear and folding blade mechanisms.

[72] In a high-profile incident on 6 June 1982, an Army Air Corps Gazelle was mistaken for a low-flying Argentine Lockheed C-130 Hercules and was shot down by HMS Cardiff, a British Type 42 destroyer.

In 2007, it was reported that, while many British helicopters had struggled with the conditions of the Afghan and Iraqi theatres, the Gazelle was the "best performing model" with roughly 80% being available for planned operations.

[87] On 27 June 1991, during the Ten Day War in Slovenia, a Yugoslav Air Force Gazelle helicopter was shot down by a man-portable 9K32 Strela-2 surface-to-air missile over Ljubljana, the first aircraft to be lost during the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Initially based at the latter location, in 1983 the squadron was relocated north of the Lebanese capital, with the Gazelles being dispersed in small improvised helipads around Jounieh and Adma for security reasons, where one of the helicopters may have been damaged in a failed takeoff.

In 1988, a Lebanese Air Force pilot, the Druze Lieutenant Majed Karameh, defected from Adma airfield and flew a SA 342K attack helicopter to the Druze-controlled Chouf District, where it was impounded by the Druze People's Liberation Army (PLA) militia upon landing and transported by a PLA MAZ-537G tank transporter to the Saïd el-Khateeb Barracks at Hammana in the Baabda District.

This particular helicopter appears to have never been used in combat by the PLA (since they had no aviation component, and therefore lacked the technically proficient personnel to help fly and maintain the captured airframe), which ended up being simply placed on storage at Hammana under the custody of the Druze 11th Infantry Brigade for the remainder of the Civil War.

[90][91] Employed extensively in the gunship role by providing close air support to General Michel Aoun's troops during the final phase of the Lebanese Civil War, combat losses and maintenance problems reduced the Gazelle fleet to just four operational helicopters by 1990,[92] with three of the machines reportedly being apprehended by the Lebanese Forces militia who illegally sold them to Serbia in 1991.

[97] The Royal Moroccan Air Force operated these Gazelles, which were equipped with a mix of anti-tank missiles and other ground attack munitions, and made frequent use of the aircraft during battles with Polisario insurgents in the western Sahara region.

[101] In 1994, French forces dispatched as a part of Opération Turquoise, a United Nations-mandated intervention in the conflict, also operated a number of Gazelles in the theatre.