Airborne: A Guided Tour of an Airborne Task Force

by Tom Clancy

  One of the more interesting variants is the PLS or Palletized Loading System. The PLS is a basic HEMTT chassis also being fitted with specialized material-handling equipment as well as a winch. The PLS weighs over 130,000 lb/58,966 kg, is 59 feet/18 meters long (including truck and trailer), and is capable of carrying 16.5 tons/15 metric tons of palletized cargo. Powered by a 500-horsepower Detroit Diesel engine, the PLS is a very big truck. The primary load for this large vehicle is the massive quantities of ammunition needed to keep a modern combat unit in action. When ammo, gas, or almost anything gets transported out onto the modern battlefield, you can bet that somewhere along the way, it was carried by an HEMTT truck.

  Helicopters: Airpower for the Airborne

  You might be surprised to find that in a parachute unit like the 82nd Airborne Division, there are a large number of helicopters assigned to provide firepower and support. These aircraft are normally flown into the division’s airhead as soon as the drop zone is fully secured. Once there, they are assembled and flown to a forward fueling and arming point (FFARP) which they operate from. This gives the division commander an organic, brigade-sized aviation unit to provide attack, reconnaissance, air assault, transport, and electronic warfare support, all of which makes the 82nd’s aviation brigade one of the crown jewels of its combat force.

  As of 1996, the 82nd Aviation Brigade has been fully modernized with airframes of relatively new production. Gone are the Vietnam-era AH-1F Cobra attack helicopters, OH-58A/C Kiowa scouts, and UH-1 “Huey” utility birds. Now the brigade has brand-new OH-58D Kiowa Warrior scout/attack helicopters, as well as UH-60L versions of the proven Blackhawk utility chopper. The 82nd’s aviation brigade provides the division with badly needed firepower, scouting, and transport services. Given the “leg” mobility of the rest of the division’s fighting units, you can understand why I want to spend some time showing their aircraft to you.

  Bell-Textron OH-58D Kiowa Warrior

  The OH-58D Kiowa Warrior is the light attack/scout helicopter that equips the scout/attack squadron of the 82nd Airborne Division’s Aviation Brigade. The basic airframe, which first flew in 1966 as the Bell Model 206 Jet Ranger, is used in the civilian world for television traffic and news reporting, as well as business/VIP transport. In 1996 the OH-58D entered its twelfth year of production, with over 250 units converted from earlier configurations. The Army’s “procurement objective” is a total of 382, including those used in training units at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and Fort Eustis, Virginia. Maximum gross weight of this agile little helicopter is 5,500 lb/2,495 kg with a crew of two.

  The crew sits side by side in a fairly tight cockpit, with the pilot on the right and observer on the left. As in most Army helicopters, the controls are duplicated, but only the pilot has a heads-up display (HUD). A single Allison T703 turboshaft engine, rated at 650 hp (485 kw), drives a four-bladed main rotor and the twin-blade tail rotor. Maximum speed is 127 kn/237 kph in a “clean” configuration, without armament. Typical cruising speed is 110 kn/204 kph. A removable armament pylon on each side of the fuselage can be fitted with a variety of weapons, depending on the mission. Against a heavy armored threat, you would carry up to four laser-guided AGM-114 Hellfire missiles (two on each side). Against an infantry or low-intensity threat, you might carry a seven-round pod of 70mm/2.75” rockets on one side and a .50-caliber machine gun pod (on the left pylon only). If the enemy has helicopters, you might even carry a two-round Stinger air-to-air missile launcher.

  A cutaway view of the Bell Textron OH-58D Kiowa Warrior Scout/Light Attack Helicopter.

  JACK RYAN ENTERPRISES, LTD., BY LAURA ALPHER

  The most striking feature of the OH-58D is the McDonnell Douglas /Northrop mast-mounted sight (MMS), which looks rather like the bloated head of a long-necked, three-eyed space alien, stuck on top of the rotor hub. The MMS is an amazing piece of mechanical and electro-optical engineering. The rotor hub of a helicopter in flight is about the nastiest vibration environment you can imagine, unless you happen to live inside a washing machine. However, the TV camera, laser range finder/designator, and thermal imager inside the MMS must not only be in perfect alignment with one another, they have to be “stabilized” to maintain a rock-steady line of sight, no matter how violently the helicopter is jinking through the air. The MMS does all this and more. It is integrated with a fire-control computer and display systems that allow the crew to locate, designate, and prosecute targets at night, in fog, dust storms, smoke, or in just about any combination of abominable flying conditions you care to imagine. For night operations, the crews wear night-vision goggles. One of the less pleasant features of the aircraft is the lack of air-conditioning. In hot weather, crews often fly with the doors off. This improves the ventilation, but increases the drag and noise levels.

  A cutaway of the AGM-114 Hellfire Anti-Tank Missile.

  JACK RYAN ENTERPRISES, LTD., BY LAURA ALPHER

  For the 82nd Airborne Division, the neatest thing about the OH-58D is how easily it can be packed into a cargo plane, and how quickly it can be unpacked upon arrival. The rotor disc is 35 feet/10.7 meters in diameter, but the four rotor blades can be folded to lie parallel to the fuselage. The MMS can then be removed or installed in about ten minutes with simple hand tools. AC-141 can carry up to four Kiowa Warriors, and a C-130 Hercules pair.

  In the 1991 Gulf War, Army OH-58Ds, developed for special missions under the previously “black” Prime Chance program, were star performers.25 Operating from Navy ships, they liberated the first Kuwaiti territory, shooting up the hapless Iraqi garrison of tiny Qurah Island and landing troops to round up prisoners. They knocked out numerous Iraqi patrol boats, oil platforms, and coast defense missile sites. In addition, older (and unarmed) OH-58Ds were the tip of the point of the spearhead, leading the 2nd Armored Cavalry’s advance into Iraq, providing critical real-time intelligence that helped to rout Saddam’s “elite” Revolutionary Guards. Along with providing laser designation for precision weapons like Hellfire missiles, 155mm Copperhead guided projectiles, and Air Force Paveway-series guided bombs, they performed superbly in the oldest aerial combat mission, conventional artillery spotting.

  The Army hopes to eventually replace Kiowa Warrior with the Boeing /Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche, a stealthy, all-digital, high-performance, and fearsomely expensive system, with an initial operating capability optimistically scheduled for July 2006. However, given the near-cancellation of the Comanche program several years ago, and the excellent value and popularity of the Kiowa Warrior, plan on seeing the OH-58D in production for some years to come.

  Sikorsky UH-60L Blackhawk

  Blackhawk is the Army’s all-purpose utility helicopter, replacing the classic UH-1 “Huey.”26 The Army lost several thousand helicopters in Vietnam, and in the process learned a great deal about how to make helicopters survivable. Every one of those lessons was incorporated into the design of the UH-60 Blackhawk, which entered service in 1978. All critical systems are armored or redundant, and the airframe is designed like a Volvo to crush on impact in a way that protects the crew and passengers. Maximum gross weight for the UH-60L is 22,000 1b/10,000 kg. It is powered by two T-701 engines, each rated at 1,940 shp. These drive a single four-bladed main rotor 53.6 ft/16.36 m in diameter and a four-bladed tail rotor. The rotor blades and tail can be folded, so that the UH-60 will fit in a variety of transport planes. About 1,400 have been delivered, and the Army is still buying about 60 of the -L models per year.

  The Blackhawk’s basic mission is hauling people and stuff around the battlefield. The people ride inside: two pilots, an enlisted crew chief who doubles as door gunner when required, and up to a full squad of eleven combat-equipped troops.27 The stuff usually dangles off a hook under the fuselage as a sling load of up to 9,000 lb/4,090 kg. This might be a Hummer, a 105mm artillery piece, a couple of fuel bladders, or a pallet of rations, ammunition, or other vital supplies. Another vital mission is “medevac,” picking up casualties and delivering them to the nearest field ho
spital. Knowing that medevac helicopters are only a few minutes away is one of the greatest single morale boosters for troops in combat. Also, at least one utility helicopter will probably be a flying command post for each brigade commander, or his deputy. This provides instant “high ground” when the commander needs to see the battlefield. One other important role is that of electronic warfare (EW). The 82nd’s Military Intelligence Battalion is assigned three EH-60 Quick Fix EW helicopters to provide communications direction finding and jamming services.

  A Sikorsky UH-60L Blackhawk Helicopter. The 82nd Airborne Division’s Aviation Brigade is equipped with thirty-six of these capable aircraft for transporting troops and cargo.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  Heavy Support Weapons

  For most soldiers, there is no weapon like a heavy weapon if you have a tough objective to take or hold. Under such conditions, having a machine gun, grenade launcher, or mortar can make all the difference between taking an objective or suffering a bloody repulse. The weapons that we are about to look at all provide such services for infantry forces, though some are so heavy that an HMMWV weapons carrier will be required to move them around the battlefield. Still, these are essential tools for any infantry force trying establish a base of fire to support combat operations.

  Browning M2 HB .50-caliber (12.7mm) Machine Gun

  The heavy machine gun is a specialist weapon, found mainly in the heavy weapons (“Delta”) company of an infantry battalion. A burst of heavy machine gun fire can shred a wooden building or a truck, and penetrate the side or rear of many armored vehicles at short range. The “fifty” or “deuce,” as it is known, is a rugged, accurate, and reliable recoil-operated weapon designed by John M. Browning. “Recoil-operated” means that an ingenious mechanism of levers, cams, and springs captures some of the recoil energy or “kick” from the powerful cartridge in order to extract and eject the spent cartridge case, cock the firing pin, advance the ammunition belt, and feed the next round. The “fifty” was originally built as a water-cooled heavy machine gun, and entered service with the U.S. Army in 1919, just a bit too late for the First World War. The air-cooled HB (heavy-barrel) model was developed during the 1920s.

  During the Second World War, the M2 was the main armament of many Allied aircraft, and was mounted on every class of Navy ship, as well as on a wide variety of Army vehicles and ground mountings. After the war, the Army used it mainly as a short-ranged antiaircraft weapon. By itself, the gun weighs 84 lb/38 kg, and each 100-round box of belted ammunition weighs 35 lb/16 kg. The rate of fire is an impressive 550 rounds per minute. The theoretical maximum range is 4.2 mi/6.8 km, and the M2 has actually been used for indirect fire at high angles of elevation to create a “fire-beaten zone” on the far side of a hill. The practical maximum range for aimed direct fire is about 1 mi/1.6 km. The copper-plated steel .50-caliber projectile has a superb aerodynamic shape, and there are many kinds of ammunition, including ball (solid), armor-piercing, tracer, armor-piercing incendiary, and blank (for training). In the 82nd Airborne the M2 is mainly used on a pintle mount on top of the Hummer light vehicle. It also backs up the Stinger missiles in the turret on the Avenger air defense vehicle, and it is often carried in a pod mount on the side of OH-58D scout helicopters. Amazingly, after seventy years, the M2 remains in production. This is in spite of the fact that although the gun itself never wears out, we need to maintain the tooling and industrial base to produce spare parts and barrels. The current contractor is Saco Defense, Inc., in Maine, and the 1996 unit cost for a new one was $14,000.

  M-240G Medium Machine Gun

  The M60 7.62mm machine gun, based on the World War II German MG-42 design, gave the U.S. Army many years of good service, but it was mechanically complex, and prone to jamming. It has been replaced in active Army units by the M240G, a ground-based version of the original M240 manufactured by the Belgian Fabrique Nationale firm as a coaxial machine gun for tanks and other armored vehicles. The cyclic rate of fire is 650 to 950 rounds per minute (rpm), but there are settings for 200 rpm (“rapid fire”) and 100 rpm (“sustained fire”). The effective range is 1.1 mi/1.8 km. The M240G is modified for ground use by installing an “infantry modification kit,” comprising a flash suppresser, front sight, carrying handle for the barrel, buttstock, pistol grip, bipod, and rear sight assembly. The weight (without ammunition) is only 24.2 1b/11 kg. The main ammunition types are ball, tracer, and blank. In the 82nd Airborne, the M240G is normally found in the heavy weapons platoon of the rifle company. The M240G can also be rigged as a door gun on transport helicopters.

  The improved durability of the M240 system results in superior reliability and maintainability compared to the old M60. In the words of one Marine officer, “Unlike the M60, this gun works.” During field tests, more than fifteen thousand rounds were fired through each prototype M240, with very few jams or breakdowns. The M60, in contrast, required barrel changes every hundred rounds.

  Mark 19 Mod. 3 40mm Machine Gun

  Originally developed to arm river patrol boats of the U.S. Navy in Vietnam, the Mk 19 is actually a fully automatic 40mm grenade launcher. After a long and troubled development period (it was nicknamed the “Dover Dog”), the Mk 19 entered service in 1981. The Army took over management of the program in 1988, and gradually the level of reliability has grown. The Mk 19 was designed to fit on the same mountings as the .50-caliber machine gun, and fires the same 40mm ammunition as the Army’s M203 or M79 single-shot grenade launchers.

  The stubby, belt-fed Mk 19 weighs 72.5 lb/33 kg and uses the simple “blowback” principle to feed the ammunition. This has the bolt and receiver assembly recoiling against a heavy spring, catching the next round and firing it on the rebound. The cyclic rate of fire is over 300 rpm, but the practical rate is about 40 rpm in short bursts. Against point targets, like vehicles or buildings, the maximum effective range is around 1,500 meters/1,640 yards. Against area targets, like an entrenched enemy position, the maximum range is 2,200 meters/2,400 yards. The explosive fragmentation round can kill or wound exposed personnel for a radius of 5 meters/16.4 feet, and the antiarmor round can penetrate up to 2 in/51 mm of armor plate. In the 82nd Airborne, the Mk 19 is found mainly in the weapons platoon of the infantry company, mounted on the roof of a Hummer. It is also mounted on the 5-ton truck, and can be fired from a tripod mount on the ground.

  Mortars

  Mortars are the infantry company and battalion commander’s personal “vest-pocket” artillery. Unlike the big guns, which traditionally require meticulous procedures for plotting fire in advance, observing the fall of shots, and adjusting fire, mortars are “shoot and scoot” weapons. Not very accurate, but they stay close to the action, and move with the troops. Modern armies (including ours) deploy “mortar locating radars” which can track the trajectory of a mortar shell, compute the position of the mortar, and direct artillery to saturate the area with counter-battery fire, so the need to “shoot and scoot” can be quite urgent.

  Most mortars are terribly simple to use. Once the weapon is set up and aimed, you simply drop a round down the barrel and get out of the way. A firing pin at the bottom of the tube strikes a primer in the base of the finned projectile. This ignites a charge of fast-burning propellant, and the round is on its way. Since the pressures and velocities involved are relatively low, a mortar shell can be thin-walled and packed with a heavy charge of explosive. In the 82nd Airborne, the most common use of mortars would likely be to put up illumination rounds to support night attacks and to lay down smoke to blind an enemy position. However, the variety of other possible uses make mortars a valuable asset to any infantry commander.

  M224 60 mm Mortar. The M224 60mm Lightweight Mortar is a smooth-bore, muzzle-loading, high-angle-of-fire weapon. “Lightweight” is a relative term, since the complete weapon weighs 46.51b/21.11 kg, and is typically a two-man drop load. One man carries the tube, which consists of a barrel, base cap, and firing pin. The other man carries the mount, which consists of a bipod and a base pl
ate with elevating and traversing screws. Maximum effective range is 2.2 miles/3,490 meters. A maximum rate of fire of 30 rpm is possible, and 20 rpm can be sustained if there is enough ammunition. There are six different ammunition types for the M224, including high-explosive, incendiary (white phosphorus), and illumination. The range can be extended by adding extra charges, which are U-shaped chunks of propellant that fit around the shaft of the projectile. For correcting fire, an M64 optical sight is attached to the bipod mount. An additional short-range sight can be attached to the base of the cannon tube for firing the mortar on the move and during assaults. This is a nifty little weapon that is normally found in heavy weapons squads of infantry platoons.

  M252 81mm Medium Extended Range Mortar. This crew-served, medium mortar is highly accurate and provides a greater range (4,500 to 5,650 meters /4,921 to 6,179 yards) and lethality than the earlier 81mm model. The weapon breaks down into four man-pack loads which are shown in the table below:

  The tube has a crew-removable breech plug and firing pin (this is a handy way to disable the weapon if you have to abandon it in combat). The muzzle end has a tapered funnel which acts as a blast attenuator. The breech end is finned for cooling during heavy firing.