Everyone talks about future warfare. That's understandable and to be applauded but one part of it has been overlooked and quite honestly I can't wait to see how it plays out.
The dogfight of the future is helo vs. helo. Or helo vs. UAV. But however you label it, its going to harken back to World War One combat. Up close and personal, fought in a phone booth and its gonna be a mostly guns affair.
I picked this video because it gives a good view of the size difference between the AH-64 and the AH-6 Little Bird. The AH-64 is not only going to be dog food in the future fight but I'm not even sure the pilots are training for this type of combat.
Of all the services, only the Marine Corps to my knowledge is prepping its helicopter pilots to fight other helicopters or fighters. In US service only the AH-1W/Z are equipped with AIM-9's. Everyone else slams Stinger missiles on their airframes. That's just not taking the threat seriously.
A fighter will lock on outside of the Stingers pathetic range and get a kill at distance. Only the AIM-9 gives adequate standoff distance...but that's against airplanes. Against helicopters it wil be small, fast, hard to see, hard to lock on, able to fly nap of the earth one second and zoom to the top of a mountain top the next and still be able to keep track of your advesary that will win the day.
The Night Stalkers have the aggressiveness and experience to win that fight. Marine helo drivers train to win that fight. Everyone else?
I just don't know.
LMM has an air to air function that's often overlooked.
ReplyDeletei had to go look that up. that seems like a good idea but i keep wondering how this type of combat is gonna play out. will it be a flying affair where everyone is climbing and diving or will it be ambush like....helos hiding behind trees and then poppng up for shots. i don't know and i can't find any military literature covering the subject.
ReplyDeleteSolomon,the book your looking for is Modern fighting helicopters by Bill Gunston.Its easy to find on the web and easy to download for free.It covers helicopter tactics vs AAA, vs helicopter and vs fighters...very good reading
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