[2] Originally known as SEASPRAY, it was a joint U.S. Army special operations and CIA clandestine aviation unit[3][4][5][6] established in 1981, and later integrated as the covered air component (E Squadron) of Delta Force.

[6] Though not initially under the control of Joint Special Operations Command, Michael Smith's 2011 book Killer Elite states that SEASPRAY was placed under the control of the Intelligence Support Activity (ISA) at an unspecified date and was used to covertly transport ISA, CIA, Delta Force and SEAL Team Six personnel;[13] by 1989 it had become absorbed into Delta Force, becoming the unit's "E Squadron".

In April 1981 a SEASPRAY helicopter flew Lebanese Christian leader Bachir Gemayel from Cairo to Lebanon as the first stage of a trip to the United States.

[17] The unit also reportedly led the development of the stealth variant of the Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter used in the raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

[10] In December 2001, Russian authorities arrested a group of contractors reportedly working for the Flight Concepts Division in the city of Petropavlovsk, where they were allegedly trying to surreptitiously buy Mi-17 transport helicopters for operations in Afghanistan.