[Real Life] Apaches in Iraq

Victor

Looks like Apaches aren't completely magic after all.

Aerospace Daily
August 6, 2003
AH-64 Apache's Deep Strike Role Under Army Review, Keane Says

U.S. Army leaders have ordered warfighting experts to perform a fresh review of currently sanctioned tactics that allow AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to penetrate deep behind enemy lines.

"We are taking a look at aviation doctrine and if it still makes sense to us," Gen. John M. Keane, vice chief of staff of the Army, said Aug. 5 at a Defense Writer's Group breakfast.

Deep-strike missions are one of the fundamental combat roles of the military's attack helicopters, both the AH-64 and the U.S. Marine Corps AH-1 Cobra.

Keane said the review was called for after Apache units staged a series of successful raids deep into enemy territory during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), but sustained heavy damage, including one helicopter that was shot down in a late March battle. In the same clash, 31 of 35 Apaches were damaged in a pre-dawn assault on a Republican Guard division.

It is not clear how the tactics review, which is being performed by the U.S. Training and Doctrine Command, could influence an ongoing debate about fully funding a proposed Block 3 modernization plant for the AH-64D Longbow fleet.

Keane's remarks came a week after Maj. Gen. James F. Amos, commander of the 3rd Marine Air Wing in OIF, questioned using attack helicopters for deep strike and close air support roles (DAILY, July 30).

"The bad news is that we've developed a set of tactics - and it's our fault - that takes our tactical attack rotary aviation out to the leading edge of the normal maneuver elements," Amos said, "and, then, out there even more forward than that, and leave them alone out there where the enemy is."

Two weeks into the campaign, both services banned the attack helicopter fleets from staging unsupported raids.

In the Army's case, Keane said, AH-64 units were bundled into makeshift strike packages with OH-58 Kiowa Warrior scouts and fixed-wing aircraft providing close air support.

Repair bids
Although the Army altered its tactics, Keane denied that the AH-64 performed below expectations. The 35 Apache crews in the late-March raid, for example, expected to encounter a dug-in force of Iraqi Republican Guards but instead found a dispersed enemy organized for anti-helicopter ambush, Keane said.

The Iraqis, despite the element of surprise, "did not defeat that organization," Keane said.

One night later, Keane added, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) staged a deep-strike raid using Apaches that proved far less costly.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command is seeking bids from contractors to repair 53 AH-64A Apaches that are "combat and/or environmentally damaged," according to an acquisition notice posted Aug. 1.

po0k

no point having lots of shiney tech when a few squads of well organised and equipped infantry can take you out.

Good enough for em.

Capt'n Midnight

"and in fact the specification required only an MTBF of 2.8 hours"

Take a look at http://www.vectorsite.net/avah64.html

ssh

It sort of highlights what is becoming a move away from mechanised warfare...

In the first world war, the machine gun made infantry assaults almost worthless, and as such, armoured vehicles became the only way of getting things done. This followed through to the second world war, where a well designed tank was extremely resistant to any infantry weapons.

But now, you can knock out a million dollar tank with a thousand dollar missile hidden in a bush, and much the same applies to choppers. In Iraq, it took 3 hidden rocket soldiers to disable an Abrahms, using 25 year old soviet rpgs.

The tanks traditional role used to be to provide cover for infantry, but now in anything other than open desert, it makes sense to have light infantry groups forging ahead to gather information and weaken specialised anti-armour groups.

po0k

In fairness, give me a fleet of Lego Pirate ships and a hardy crew of men with cylindrical yellow heads and I'll take over the world within 2 weeks.