To Helicopter, or Not To Helicopter...

[StCapps]

It's not like there's a shortage of threads about parents complaining about other parents around this place neither, which is why I was hoping it was going to be about Advanced Mobility Operations instead.

Standing by for a clever segue.....

[Smitty-48]

It's not like there's a shortage of threads about parents complaining about other parents around this place neither, which is why I was hoping it was going to be about Advanced Mobility Operations instead.

Standing by for a clever segue.....

Well, as with most things, there's upsides and downsides to both options;

For helo insert, the upside is that it's simple and easy and you get on the objective quickly, achieving surprise by speed, and against an ill prepared and/or lesser quality opponent, you gain shock action by intimidation. The downside can be, against a well prepared and hardcore opponent, you can simply end up alerting them to your approach and then fly into a hornet's nest followed by a meatgrinder, to plausibly include having one or more of your helos shot down.

For dismounted insert, the upside is that you can acheive total surprise by stealth and take the enemy unawares, coup de main fait accompli, seize the objective without warning, the downside is greater complexity, time, and distance, which leaves more room for things to go wrong, to include being ambushed short of and never making the objective at all.

I will say this tho, helo is overdone, we've become way too reliant on helo inserts, which can be risky enough with a lesser opponent; Black Hawk Down, Operation Red Wings, but if you try to roll like we do now, against a near peer opponent, helo's are going to be shot down left and right.

Case in point, didn't take long for the Vietnamese to figure the helo out, and by the end the Americans had lost 5,000 helicopters. Black Hawk Down, that was ostensibly a "disaster" to the Americans, and that was two helicopters, Vietnam' was two Black Hawk Down's per day. Based on the new paradigm in terms of what sort of attrition the Americans are prepared to accept, if they were ever to try to take on a hardcore opponent like that again, the helo would be an exponential achilles heel, and yet right now, they are totally relying on helos.

You know, at the very end, the Americans had started to shift away from air assault, for the invasion of Cambodia, they actually didn't fly in, they went with an armoured assault, tanks and apc's, Isreali style. The Israelis mostly use helos for small unit special operations, they don't do air assault, because they think the helo is too vulnerable.

/to helicopter, or not to helicopter

[Fife]

When in doubt, I'm going with helicopter.

Maybe it's just me. :goteam: :drunk:

[Smitty-48]

When in doubt, I'm going with helicopter.

Maybe it's just me. :goteam: :drunk:

Well, Soviet helicopters are much, much tougher than American helicopters, they built their helicopters as flying tanks, although, they still lost 333 of those helicopters in Afghanistan, it's kind of like; early in the war, the helicopters will run buck wild, but then the enemy figures out a countermeasure, and suddenly the tide turns and the helicopters become deathtraps, even without Stingers, but if the enemy has MANPADS, the US military would be in big trouble.

[Smitty-48]

It happened in Iraq too, in the Gulf War, the Army launched the Apaches deep into enemy territory and shot the Iraqis to pieces, Highway of Death, but in the Iraq War, they tried it again, but this time the Iraqis were on to them, and it was the Iraqis who shot the Apaches to pieces, in a counter-helicopter ambush.

[clubgop]

When in doubt, I'm going with helicopter.

Maybe it's just me. :goteam: :drunk:

Well, Soviet helicopters are much, much tougher than American helicopters, they built their helicopters as flying tanks, although, they still lost 333 of those helicopters in Afghanistan, it's kind of like; early in the war, the helicopters will run buck wild, but then the enemy figures out a countermeasure, and suddenly the tide turns and the helicopters become deathtraps, even without Stingers, but if the enemy has MANPADS, the US military would be in big trouble.

I identify as an attack helicopter.

[Smitty-48]

I identify as an attack helicopter.

What kind of attack helicopter? That's a pretty broad category, you talking AH-6 Little Bird? MH-60 DAP? Mi-28 Night Hunter? Ka-52 Alligator?

[Fife]

I identify as an attack helicopter.

What kind of attack helicopter? That's a pretty broad category, you talking AH-6 Little Bird? MH-60 DAP? Mi-28 Night Hunter? Ka-52 Alligator?

WKRP Turkey Dropper

[Smitty-48]

I like the DAP meself, best of all worlds;

[clubgop]

I identify as an attack helicopter.

What kind of attack helicopter? That's a pretty broad category, you talking AH-6 Little Bird? MH-60 DAP? Mi-28 Night Hunter? Ka-52 Alligator?

WKRP Turkey Dropper

Got tired of packing and unpacking, town to town, up and down strafing them all.