Transport helicopters[edit]
Main article: Transport helicopter
Transport helicopters are used for transporting personnel (troops) and cargo in support of military operations. In larger militaries, these helicopters are often purpose-built for military operations, but commercially available aircraft are also used. The benefit of using helicopters for these operations is that personnel and cargo can be moved to and from locations without requiring a runway for takeoffs and landings. Cargo is carried either internally, or externally by slung load where the load is suspended from an attachment point underneath the aircraft. Personnel are primarily loaded and unloaded while the helicopter is on the ground. However, when the terrain restricts even helicopters from landing, personnel may also be picked up and dropped off using specialized devices, such as rescue hoists or special rope lines, while the aircraft hovers overhead.
Air assault is a military mission that relies heavily on the use of transport helicopters. An air assault involves a customized assault force that is assembled on the pick-up zone and staged for sequential transport to a landing zone (LZ). The idea is to use the helicopters to transport and land a large number of troops and equipment in a relatively short amount of time, in order to assault and overwhelm an objective near the LZ. The advantage of air assault over an airborne assault is the ability of the helicopters to continually resupply the force during the operation, as well as to transport the personnel and equipment to their previous location, or a follow-on location if the mission dictates.
- Transport helicopters
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Observation helicopters[edit]
The first reconnaissance and observation aircraft were balloons, followed by light airplanes, such as the Taylorcraft L-2 and Fieseler Fi 156. As the first military helicopters became available, their ability to both maneuver and to remain in one location made them ideal for reconnaissance. Initially observation helicopters were limited to visual observation by the aircrew, and most helicopters featured rounded, well-glazed cockpits for maximum visibility. Over time, the human eye became supplemented by optical sensor systems. Today, these include low light level television and forward looking infrared cameras. Often, these are mounted in a stabilised mount along with multi-function lasers capable of acting as laser rangefinder and targeting designators for weapons systems.[3]
By nature of the mission, the observation helicopter's primary weapons are its sensor suite and communications equipment. Early observation helicopters were effective at calling for artillery fire and airstrikes. With modern sensor suites, they are also able to provide terminal guidance to ATGWs, laser-guided bombs and other missiles and munitions fired by other armed aircraft.[4][5] Observation helicopters may also be armed with combinations of gun and rocket pods and sometimesanti-tank guided missiles or air-to-air missiles, but in smaller quantities than larger attack helicopters.[6] Primarily, these weapons were intended for the counter-reconnaissance fight—to eliminate an enemy's reconnaissance assets—but they can also be used to provide limited direct fire support or close air support.
- Observation helicopters
Maritime helicopters[edit]
Among the first practical uses of helicopters when the R-4 and R-5 became available to US and UK forces was deployment from navy cruisers and battleships, at first supplementing and later replacing catapult-launched observation aircraft. Another niche within the capability of the early helicopters was as plane guard - tasked with the recovery of pilots who had ditched near an aircraft carrier.
As helicopter technology matured with increased payload and endurance, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) was added to the helicopter's repertoire. Initially, helicopters operated as weapons delivery systems, attacking with air-launched torpedoes and depth charges based on information provided by its parent and other warships. In the 1960s, the development of the turboshaft engine and transistor technology changed the face of maritime helicopter aviation. The turboshaft engine allowed smaller helicopters, such as the Westland Wasp, to operate from smaller vessels than their reciprocating engine predecessors. The introduction of transistors allowed helicopters, such as the SH-3 Sea King, to be equipped with integral dunking sonar, radar and magnetic anomaly detection equipment. The result was an aircraft able to more quickly respond to submarine threats to the fleet without waiting for directions from fleet vessels.
Today, maritime helicopters such as the SH-60 Seahawk and the Westland Lynx are designed to be operated from frigates, destroyers and similar size vessels. The desire to carry and operate two helicopters from frigate- and destroyer-sized vessels has had an impact on the maximum size of the helicopters and the minimum size of the ships. Increasing miniaturisation of electronics, better engines and modern weapons now allow even the modern, destroyer-based, multi-role helicopter to operate nearly autonomously in the ASW, anti-shipping, transport, SAR and reconnaissance roles.
Medium- and large-sized helicopters are operated from carriers and land bases. In the British, Spanish, and Italian navies, the larger helicopters form the main anti-submarine strength of carrier air wings. When operating from shore bases, the helicopters are used as anti-submarine pickets to protect against hostile submarines loitering outside military ports and harbours; their endurance and payload providing advantages over smaller helicopters.
Soviet maritime helicopters, operating from its cruisers, had the additional role of guidance of the cruisers' long range anti-shipping missiles.
Maritime helicopters are navalised for operation from ships, this includes enhanced protection against salt water corrosion, protection against ingestion of water and provision for forced ditching at sea.
- Maritime helicopters
Multi-mission and rescue[edit]
As helicopters came into military service, they were quickly pressed into service for search and rescue[note 2] and medical evacuation. During World War II, Flettner Fl 282s were used in Germany for reconnaissance, and Sikorsky R-4s were used by the United States to rescue downed aircrews and injured personnel in remote areas of the China Burma India Theater, from April 1944 until the war's end. The use of helicopters for rescue during combat increased during the Korean War and the Algerian War. In the Vietnam War the USAF acquired Sikorsky S-61R (Jolly Green Giant) and CH-53 Sea Stallion (Super Jolly Green Giant) helicopters for the CSAR mission.[7]
- Multimission and Rescue helicopters
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Training helicopters[edit]
Some services use a version of their operational helicopters, usually in the light class, for pilot training. For example, the British have used the Aérospatiale Gazelleboth in operations and as a trainer. Some services also have an Ab initio phase in training that uses very basic helicopters. The Mexican Navy has acquired a number of the commercially available Robinson R22[8] and R44 helicopters for this purpose.
Tactics and operations[edit]
While not essential to combat operations, helicopters give a substantial advantage to their operators by being a force multiplier. To maximise their impact, helicopters are utilised in a combined arms approach.[9]
High intensity warfare[edit]
High-intensity warfare is characterized by large arrays of conventional armed forces, including mass formations of tanks, with significant air defenses. Helicopter armament and tactics were changed to account for a less-permissive flight environment. Anti-tank missiles, such as the Nord SS.11 and the Aérospatiale SS.12/AS.12 were developed and mounted on French military helicopters. In turn, the United States adapted its BGM-71 TOW for firing from helicopters and eventually developed the AGM-114 Hellfire. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union adapted the 3M11 Falanga missile for firing from the Mil Mi-24.
In the air, attack helicopters armed with anti-tank missiles, and one or more unarmed, or lightly armed scout helicopters operate in concert. The scout helicopter, flying at low level in a nap-of-the-earth approach, attempts to both locate the enemy armoured columns and to map out approaches and ambush positions for the attack helicopters. Late-model scout helicopters include laser designators to guide missiles fired from the attack helicopters. After finding a target, the scout helicopter can locate it and then direct the attack helicopter's missile where to fire. The attack helicopters have only to rise from cover briefly to fire their missiles before returning to a concealed location.[7] Late-development of attack helicopters, such as the Mil Mi-28N, the Kamov Ka-52, and the AH-64D Longbow, incorporate sensors and command and control systems to relieve the requirement for scout helicopters.
To enhance the combat endurance of these missile-armed helicopters, transport helicopters were used to carry technicians, reloads and fuel to forward locations. Establishing these forward arming and refuel points (FARP) at pre-arranged locations and times allowed armed or attack helicopters to re-arm and refuel, often with their engines running and the rotors still turning, and to quickly return to the front lines.[7]
Low intensity warfare[edit]
Main article: Counter-insurgency
In counter-insurgency (COIN) warfare, the government force establishes its presence in permanent or temporary military bases from which to mount patrols and convoys. The government forces seek to deter the insurgent forces from operating, and to capture or kill those that do. The operation of forces from fixed bases linked by a fixed network of roads becomes a weakness. Emplaced insurgents and local sympathisers may observe such facilities covertly and gather intelligence on the schedules and routes of patrols and convoys. With this intelligence the insurgents can time their operations to avoid the COIN forces or plan ambushes to engage them, depending on their own tactical situation.
Helicopters return a measure of surprise and tactical flexibility to the COIN commander. Patrols need not start and end in the same place (the main entrance of the local compound), nor do supply convoys need follow the same roads and highways. During the Troubles, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) became adept at avoiding conventional, fixed roadblocks and patrols. To prevent predictable patterns, the patrols were deployed by helicopter, known as Eagle Patrols, and were then able to disrupt the IRA's ability to move personnel and arms.[7] In the aftermath of the American invasion of Iraqhelicopters have been used as aerial supply trucks and troop transports to prevent exposure to ambushes set by the Iraqi insurgency.[10]
Due to the cost and complexity of training and support requirements, insurgent forces rarely have access to helicopters.
Manufacturers[edit]
Main article: Helicopter manufacturers
The major Western European helicopter manufacturers are now AgustaWestland and Eurocopter Group. In America, the three large remaining companies are Boeing (Boeing Vertol and McDonnell Douglas), Bell Helicopter and Sikorsky Aircraft.
In Japan the three main manufacturers of helicopters are the aviation arms of the Japanese conglomerates Mitsubishi,Kawasaki and Fuji Heavy Industries. These companies initially followed a business model based on forming strategic partnerships with foreign, usually American, companies with the licensed production of those companies products, whilst building up their own ability to design and manufacture helicopters through a process of workshare and technology transfer.
In the Soviet-planned economic system, the Mil and Kamov OKBs were responsible only for the design of helicopters. A 2006 re-organisation of the helicopter industry in Russia created Oboronprom, a holding company to bring together Mil and manufacturing plants.
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