Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnews!military From: bateskm@clutx.clarkson.edu (Gargoyle,207VanNote,2652180,2683942) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Airborne Operations Message-ID: <1990Jul6.032827.27916@cbnews.att.com> Date: 6 Jul 90 03:28:27 GMT References: <1990Jul5.020552.14422@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY Lines: 58 Approved: military@att.att.com From: "Gargoyle,207VanNote,2652180,2683942" > The tradeoffs of paratrooper ops is vulnerability . A > paratrooper, hanging from a parachute for several minutes, is > possibly the easiest target in the military world (except for > grounded airplanes, maybe). Until he gets clear of that parachute, > he is a target, not a soldier > .. THat was the reason for the developement of gliders. Paratroop ops > had such a high potential for casuualties that it was thought that > it would be better to put them all in a ctransport that could land > and then be discarded. The transport could manuveer (sp?) and > (hopefully) avoid AA, and large numbers of troops could be landed in > one spot safely. In execution, however, the gliders were bears to > handle, the pilots that flew them were poorly trained, and they were > almost as easy a target as the parachute. > Today most paratroop ops are conducted from hhelicopter. The > troops are kept low, out of AA and missle fire, in a h (relatively) > fast, manuverable craft. They repel off the helicopter and are on > the ground and ready to fight in a few seconds. > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Modern airborne operations (parachute insertions) in the US Army are conducted mainly from C-130 and C-141 aircraft flying at low alt- itudes. The standard training jump at Airborne School is from 1250 feet at 125 knots. The standard delivery in training is ten soldiers per door (one on each side of the aircraft) in the DZ (which is 900 x 2100 m, roughly). This is a one second deployment lag between jumpers with one door proceeding only after the other one has been dropped. From a height of 1250 feet the approximate time spent aloft is 50 secs. Combat jumps and jumps from airborne units are done at much lower altitudes (either 850 or 500 feet) with a correspondingly shorter time aloft. For a real combat drop into a hot DZ, the time aloft per soldier would be only about 20 seconds. This is a long time while you're being shot at on the ground, but dropping you onto an enemy position that expected you in daylight or in conditions favorable to the enemy is not done. (well, its not supposed to be...) It is also more difficult than one might realize to hit a target in the air moving at twenty feet per second vertically. There are no markers in the air with which to accur- ately judge distance as there are in the ground, and most shots over 100 m would become _very_ difficult. I feel more secure in the air than on the ground. Of course, heavy AA fire on a parachute force would be devastating. It would probably be better to drop the force a few miles away and let them hump to the objective than fly a slow, low, huge bird like the Starlifter into an enemy-controlled zone (one of the reasons Air Assault operations were begun...). Casualties from airborne operations are also much lower than openly thought. Yeah, there are casualties and equip- ment malfunctions, but the current safety rate is something over 99%. That one percent of casualties is almost entirely broken bones from poor landings (feet apart, knee landings, missed points of contact). Helicopter assault operations are taught by the Air Assault school. There are advantages (direct placement of troops, speedier insertions, and ability to go places where parachutes couldn't) but the mass inser- tion of thousands of troops is not possible, either. We rappel (abseil in the rest of the world) out from treetop level and continue with our air assault mission. Air assault is not paratroop operations. Gargoyle Airborne Air Assault trooper US Army