From: gak@n5abi.hou.tx.us (Gene A. Kennedy)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.military
Subject: Re: CAS: Fixed vs Rotary (was: The A-10)
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 92 12:24:15 CST
Organization: Ham Radio Operator, Houston Tex.

wjc@dss1.austin.ibm.com writes:

> In <XVR2VB1w164w@n5abi.hou.tx.us> gak@n5abi.hou.tx.us (Gene A. Kennedy) write
> > Getting home to the wife and kids is what it's all about when you 
> >sit back and think about it later. 
> 
> Or before? Given the choice of completing my mission with a 
> succesful R.T.B., and completing my mission as an M.I.A, I'll take
> the former. I will take advantage of anything that will increase 
> my odds of meeting my objectives and getting home safe and sound. 
> Such as pedal-to-the-metal, balls-to-the-wall, hair-on-fire speeeeeeed!
> I mean, I'm talking "quickness" here. Get in, get out, and leave 'em
> guessing.

 If you ever got the choice of RTB or MIA before the mission I 
thin we all know what everyone would choose, but you don't get 
that choice before hand.
 "Speed" is relative, if your going mach 1.1 your still sitting 
still to a missile going mach 3. I've also seen old, 80 knot, C 
model Hueys survive in a valley where F-4s were shot down, but 
that's another story :-)
> 

 (lots of good "high tech" stuff deleted)

> Helicopters are great for getting down in the weeds along the line of 
> contact. But unless you actually need to stop and drop something off or
> pick something up, or need to hang around and check things out, why 
> not just whizz on by, leaving the proper amount of destruction in the 
> proper place behind you.

 The point is that helicopters have their mission and fast movers 
have theirs, we need both. No matter how fast or "high tech" you 
get, both are still subject to losses, but both still have their 
roles. There is one really big difference between CAS by fast 
mover and CAS by helicopter though. With the helicopter, the guy 
in the aircraft (often the one flying), sees and identifies the 
target, and then he, AND ONLY HE, makes the decision to fire. With 
the fast mover, someone else IDs the target and tells him to fire. 
IMHO, this is exactly what happened in the Gulf War incident where
an Apache fired on US Army Bradleys and killed friendly troops. 
The pilot of that Apache violated the first rule of helicopter 
gunship pilots, "You push the button, you make the decision". A 
good, combat experienced (and that guy wasn't :-( ) helicopter 
gunship pilot NEVER fires unless HE is sure of the target and 
makes the decision HIMSELF. And yes, I have done both, fired 
against orders, and not fired when ordered, I won't claim I never 
made a mistake, but I can say that I never fired on friendlies or 
civilians. In even the most modern environment, the coodrination 
between the ground troops and the air support is critical, and for 
the closest type of support the helicopter, that lives with the 
troops, and has the same commanders at lower level, is, IMHO still 
the way to go.

 In a way, you are right about "high tech" in one sense, the 
weapons available on helicopters today, like the Apache, outrange 
almost everything that is a real threat to the Apache. If you can 
shoot him before he can shoot you, it's a real advantage.


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          Gene Kennedy - Ham Radio Operator, N5ABI - 
                      gak@n5abi.hou.tx.us
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Newsgroups: rec.aviation.military