What Is The Makeup Of An Apache Ground Crew

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An Apache gunship fires a 2.75-inch rocket. Along with this mainstay of its ordnance package, the AH-64D Longbow has Hellfire missiles and a thirty-mm gimbaled, concatenation gun that fires 625 rounds a minute. Graham Lavery Photograph

Looking up at the Bong OH-58D Kiowa Warrior circling low over the grape fields of Kandahar province, a human foot soldier remarks, "Those are the guys who have our backs." It is a unproblematic statement, but i loaded with innuendo, understanding, history and respect. And, it is the foundation on which the United States Ground forces's 101st Gainsay Aviation Brigade (CAB), part of the 101st Airborne Division, is based.

The Kiowa and its larger, more than powerful partner, the Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow, fulfill a critical and highly utilized function on this, the most fluid of battlefields. Information technology is a battlefield where there are no definitive lines, where dangers to International Security Help Force (ISAF) basis personnel, and Afghan civilians alike, are farthermost and difficult to identify at the best of times.

Kiowa: The Close-In Solution
The beginning image of the Kiowa was flown in Dec 1962 every bit Bell'due south submission for the The states Army'southward light observation helicopter contract. After losing out to the Hughes Shipping Co., Bell set nigh improving on the prototype; the result was the creation of the civilian model Bong 206A JetRanger, which has become one of the virtually successful rotorcraft ever built.

After Hughes was unable to meet continued product obligations, the Army reopened the competition in 1967; the Bell 206A ultimately won this 2d contest and was re-branded the OH-58A Kiowa in the armed forces tradition of using Native American nomenclature. It has been in continuous utilize with the Regular army ever since.

The Kiowa'southward specialty is "conducting armed reconnaissance, security, target acquisition and designation, command and control, light assail, and defensive air combat missions in support of gainsay and contingency operations." This is the long way of maxim what Lt. Col. Hank Taylor, commander of Task Force Saber of the 101st CAB, stated emphatically, "We're here to support the guys on the ground," full stop.

The Kiowa Warrior – recognizable to many civilian pilots every bit a Bell 206 airframe with a Rolls Royce M250-C30 powerplant – is ideal in this support role: it is light and maneuverable and has excellent visibility. It also packs a meaning punch, with a .l-caliber, forward-firing stock-still gun and a vii-round, 2.75-inch rocket launcher for those occasions when it needs to engage a target or back up troops in contact.

Unlike its civilian analogue, the Kiowa sports a four-bladed rotor organization atop the mast on which the MMS, or mast-mounted sight, is located. The MMS provides the crew of two with the power to acquire targets, or inspect suspected targets, solar day or night, with thermal imaging and low-lite, high-resolution boob tube cameras. The MMS besides houses laser range-finding and designation equipment, assuasive the crews to mark confirmed targets for other platforms, such as the Apache, to engage with heavier or more precise weapons, such every bit Hellfire missiles.

Chief Warrant Officer Chris Shipman, a maintenance test airplane pilot and veteran of 4 deployments to Republic of iraq and Afghanistan, expanded on the Kiowa'due south role in this complex fight. "We fly in back up of the ground guys," he said, "giving them the best situational awareness we can" – through that vital eye-in-the-sky perspective and through abiding communication with ground commanders. In a combat zone that features hard terrain and an most countless number of hiding places for improvised explosive devices, weapons caches or well-armed enemy fighters, the Kiowa'south power to go up close to potential threats is a great advantage that translates straight into lives saved on the ground.

That advantage will exist increased in a few years when the new version of the OH-58 comes out. Late last year, Bell Helicopter was awarded the contract to build the upgraded OH-58F, which will contain a new cockpit and sensor arrangement, providing a significant leap frontwards in adequacy. A set of three new multi-function displays volition be one of the principal highlights of the upgrade. With over 630,000 combat hours on the Kiowa Warrior fleet and the highest operational tempo of any aircraft in the U.South. Army's combat inventory, this upgrade package should ensure the shipping'southward connected success in Ground forces Aviation for years to come.

Every bit high-tech as many of the Kiowa's systems are and will presently go, though, it volition e'er retain the power for old-school engagement. Pilots sit down in armored seats, just accept piffling else to provide protection. They fly with doors off 100 percent of the time, and there is no armored drinking glass. Combined with the mission profile of low-level, upwards-shut-and-personal reconnaissance, at that place exists an intimacy with the surface area of operation that no other aerial platform duplicates. In this day and historic period of ever-increasing dependence on electronic capabilities, light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation-guided weapons, and remote engagements with unmanned drones, information technology is not uncommon for Kiowa crews to engage targets with their personal weapons, firing out the doors at close range.

In a fight where the rules of engagement are complex and violating them can pb to high-profile headlines on the evening news, with damaging political ramifications, the Kiowa's crews are on the front end lines of the Afghan air state of war, routinely forced to brand difficult, separate-second judgment calls that can be fatal for themselves or people on the ground. It'south a kind of personal responsibility and intimacy with the combat surroundings that few other aircrews experience in quite the same way.

Apache: The Heavy Hitter
The AH-64D Apache Longbow represents about the polar opposite in thinking to the Kiowa. A massive machine with bags of power and speed, and an imposing weapons suite run through a country-of-the-art observation and targeting system, the Apache is an intimidating platform with serious and ever-increasing capabilities.

First brought into service in 1984, this twelvemonth the model went into its third iteration: Block III. Upgrades over the years accept been aimed at improving battlefield communications, weapon systems and keeping up with an e'er-changing armed forces landscape. The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq represent very different scenarios to the potential fight envisioned in Western Europe back in the Cold War days, and the Army has adapted both the airframe and the tactics to accommodate this new type of warfare.

The about recognizable feature of the Apache has to exist its gun. Information technology is a massive thirty-mm, gimbaled, chain gun firing at 625 rounds a minute that can be slaved to the pilot'south caput movements through the Arrowhead 2d-generation, long-wave telly and infrared sensor ball mounted on the nose, and has an effective range of about one mile. Capt. Ryan Potato, commander of "Alpha Company," of Task Forcefulness Saber with the 101st Airborne, said the targeting and slaving systems "take some time to get used to, but we tin can utilize the gun in multiple ways," which adds to the options for the crews. "It is still an area weapon," he said, "with [each round having an] constructive smash radius of a [paw] grenade." The key is engaging targets at range, long before the helicopter comes inside the constructive distance of small artillery, which represent the unmarried biggest threat to rotary-winged aircraft in theater.

The same two.75-inch rockets on the Kiowa are likewise featured on the Apache, providing some other "surface area weapon" choice. Merely, the almost authentic ordnance information technology regularly carries in Afghanistan is the Hellfire missile, which is a very precise system – "downwards to a couple of feet" said Irish potato. Of course, similar anything in the electronic earth, the targeting system is only as good equally the information fed into it.

With the ever-increasing integration of digitized electronics on the battleground providing Apache crews with a host of new capabilities – such as remotely decision-making unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or having targets designated for them by a multifariousness of other assets like the Kiowa, footing troops, UAVs or other aircraft – Murphy stressed that "we like to designate our own targets. I want to know where that missile is going." The consequences of ill-identified targets can be devastating, literally and figuratively.

The biggest threat to winning the hearts and minds of the average Afghan – which is an essential part of the ISAF strategy – is noncombatant casualties. Given recent high-profile mistakes (such every bit the ix young boys killed by helicopter gunships in the Pech River Valley on the Pakistan border on March 1), it is a commitment to this diligence in target selection and verification that will assistance foreclose such tragic loss of life.

The Mission
If at that place is i theme that keeps cropping upwardly around the decade-long fight in Afghanistan, it is the "maturity of the battlefield." A smashing many lessons have been learned over the past 10 years, most of them hard-learned and written in blood. Tactics, strategy, and the effective application of assets are essential, and the men and women of the 101st CAB are e'er striving for improvement.

Lt. Col. Taylor was emphatic on the bespeak that while they were well prepared for this rotation, "the enemy has fought well – merely I'grand proud of my people for adapting. We are nonetheless changing [tactics], still learning and nosotros never take annihilation for granted." It is a trait he feels has significant historical importance for the 101st Airborne Segmentation – which dates dorsum to the Second World War – one he intends to uphold. It is also a trait that prevents stagnation, complacency and wasted lives.

As recently equally 2008, the entire Kandahar province was being looked afterwards past the Canadian Forces (see Canadian Combat Helicopters in Afghanistan supplement, Vertical, Dec'x-Jan'11), who, while performing extremely well in their role, were limited in terms of sheer numbers. The concluding couple of fighting seasons have, however, seen a significant alter in the landscape with the addition of a large number of ground and air assets from the U.S., a more refined division of responsibleness, and a level of international co-performance that had not been seen previously. Couple that with an exponential increase in Afghan National Ground forces (ANA) troops, and there has been a substantial development in the fight for Kandahar province, a traditional expanse of Taliban support.

Capt. Joe Corsentino, a Kiowa pilot and the commander of C (Charlie) Troop, Chore Strength Saber, 101st CAB, who is wrapping up his second tour in Kandahar province, offered a simple, clear statement on the change that has taken place, "The biggest difference is the number of troops, in places where you would get shot at in 2008, kids are playing soccer." The expanded use of attack helicopters in combination with other assets – such every bit UAVs and their formidable ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) capability – besides as implementing a "clear and hold" policy utilizing the increased numbers of ANA troops in an ever-expanding network of forwards operating bases, has played a critical role in the development that Corsentino spoke about. In his opinion, "The surge was very successful in this surface area."

Apaches and Kiowas are grouped together in what are referred to as "heavy teams" – one Apache and two Kiowa Warriors – or in "pink teams" comprising one of each. Close air support of troops on the ground is an obvious role for both of these teams, but information technology doesn't stop there: convoy back up, escort of utility or send helicopters on deliberate operations or on Dustoff medevac missions, and armed reconnaissance fill out the primary tasking for the aircrews.

Whatever the mission, the teaming of the Kiowa and Apache has proved to be an ideal combination. As Capt. Potato explained, "We like flying [teamed] with the Kiowas, allow them get depression and observe, stir things up, and nosotros dorsum it upwards with our [superior] sensor and firepower." It's an effective tactic, and one that allows the teams to piece of work independently of ground units and fly patrol routes to gather crucial data on enemy movements of personnel and supplies.

"The key [to the entire area of performance] are the gates to Kandahar Metropolis," stressed Taylor, as it is the major center in the south, and the nearly important hub for Afghan enemy fighters and their supplies. The primary supply routes into and out of the southern regions of the country run from Kandahar City east to Islamic republic of pakistan and west to Iran and Helmand province, which is another Taliban stronghold. The "Red Desert," an expansive area covering the southern part of Afghanistan and stretching from Pakistan to Iran, the limit of which is a scant 10 nautical miles from Kandahar Airfield, provides a complex network of "rat lines" by which artillery, goods, narcotics and people are smuggled into and out of the area. Cutting these supply routes, or at least making them much more than difficult to laissez passer, is ane of main objectives of ISAF in Kandahar province – an enormous chore that requires the attack helicopter platform.

The Measure of Success
The unabridged War in Afghanistan can be described as an development, with the long-term nature of the disharmonize resulting in both a heightened understanding of the driving forces behind it, and an opportunity for the armed services to learn, progress and adjust to the situation at hand, however difficult that may be.

There can be no doubt this is too the case for the 101st CAB and its offensive helicopters. Despite the difficulty of the operating surround, with its loftier-density altitudes, varied terrain, and competency and tenacity of the enemy forces, the evolution of the Apache and Kiowa has remained abiding.

That progress in hardware and tactics has seen a significant increase in the safety of the troops driving the roads or walking through the villages. Because, at the finish of the day, every bit Lt. Col. Taylor insisted, the simply measure of success that counts for him and his aviators comes from the ground: "We are successful if they are successful."

Source: https://verticalmag.com/features/ground-support-html/

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