An Apache attack helicopter, which can sometimes fly as low as 150 feet about the ground, a range which makes it vulnerable to fire from militants. Photograph: HO / REUTERS
The US military is flying Apache helicopters against Islamic State rebels in Iraq for the first time, exposing US troops to greater risk from ground fire as they help Iraqi forces battle the Islamist group that has overrun parts of the country.
US troops flew helicopters against Islamic State fighters on Sunday and again on Monday as they struck at mortar teams and other units near Fallujah, said a spokesman for Central Command, which is responsible for US forces in the Middle East.
“This was the first time rotary wing aircraft were used in coordination with and in support of ISF [Iraqi Security Force] operations,” army major Curtis Kellogg said in an email. “The Iraqi government asked for support with this capability near Fallujah to push back [Islamic State].”
US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the helicopters that were used were Apache attack helicopters.
Christopher Harmer, a former navy aviator who is now an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War thinktank, said this was a significant escalation in the level of risk being taken by US troops assisting the Iraqi military.
“Fixed-wing aircraft flying at 30,000 feet are completely immune from the type of weapons that Islamic State fighters have, but a helicopter is not,” Harmer said.
“When you’re flying a helicopter 150 feet above the ground, that helicopter can be shot with a rocket-propelled grenade or a heavy machine gun … so yes, it is much more dangerous,” he added.
Army colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said the decision to use helicopters was taken because of the nature of the targets, but he did not offer details on who made the decision.
Harmer said helicopters would be much more effective at supporting Iraqi ground troops directly engaged in combat with Islamic State fighters because they fly lower and more slowly and are more capable of identifying individual targets.
“If you’ve got Iraqi army fighting against Islamic State fighters, it’s much better to have helicopters supporting the Iraqi army than fixed-wing aircraft,” he said.
Warren said the military considered the risk of flying helicopters before deploying them. The military conducts “risk assessments with every single operation we execute and in this case the decision was made that that platform was the appropriate platform for the target set”, he said.
Central Command said in a release on Sunday that US forces conducted four strikes northeast of Fallujah, hitting two mortar teams, a large ISIL unit and two small ISIL units. It said in a release on Monday that two strikes northeast of Fallujah destroyed two mortar placements and an Islamic State bunker.
It was not clear from the Central Command statement whether all or only some of these strikes were conducted from US helicopters.
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The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night vision systems. It is armed with a 30 mm (1.18 in) M230 Chain Gun carried between the main landing gear, under the aircraft’s forward fuselage. It has four hardpoints mounted on stub-wing pylons, typically carrying a mixture of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and Hydra 70 rocket pods. The AH-64 has a large amount of systems redundancy to improve combat survivability.
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US uses Apache helicopters in fighting ISIL in Iraq
Monday, 06 October 2014 19:51
Baghdad (AIN) — The U.S. has begun using Apache AH-64 attack helicopters to strike at ISIS targets inside Iraq, the first time the aircraft have been used for offensive strikes since arriving in Baghdad in early July.
Their use opens up a new capability in the airstrike campaign against ISIS in Iraq, but one that also comes with risks, as they could be vulnerable to ground fire.
A defense official confirms that Apache helicopters were used this weekend as part of four airstrikes on a large ISIS force northeast of Fallujah. The attack was conducted in coordination with Air Force fighter aircraft that supported the operation.
A press release by U.S. Central Command said the air strikes near Fallujah “struck two mortar teams, a large ISIL [ISIS] unit and two small ISIL units.”
The official confirmed that the strikes were the first use of the Apache helicopters that were deployed to Iraq in early July.
Several Apache helicopters were included in an additional deployment of several hundred U.S. military personnel sent to Baghdad o reinforce security at U.S. embassy facilities and access to the Baghdad Airport.
The deployment of the attack helicopters was intended to be defensive nature, but their offensive capabilities are now being used against ISIS. Any restrictions on their use for offensive purposes were presumably lifted in early September when President Obama announced that offensive air strikes could be used against ISIS targets.
Apache helicopters can be used to provide close air support for ground troops, but can also fire Hellfire missiles at enemy targets from several miles away. The use of long-distance sensors and missiles lessens the potential exposure to small arms fire the helicopters could face in a ground combat situation. The aircraft are still vulnerable to small arms and missile fire, however, and during the war in Iraq several were shot down by enemy fire.
The defense official said the strikes northeast of Fallujah were coordinated with Iraqi security forces to support their operations.
“It’s a capability we have, that they asked for, and that could contribute to their operations” the official said. /End/
http://www.alliraqnews.com/en/index.php/political-news/59020-us-uses-apache-helicopters-in-fighting-isil-in-iraq.html
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Boots in the sky…
Just sayin’…
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Thanks Dinarhawk
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