Military helicopters

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Bermuda Regiment soldiers board a USMC CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

Military helicopters are helicopters used by military forces. They can be found in a variety of roles in different militaries of which the tactical airlift mission is the most common. Some militaries also possess attack helicopters and specialist helicopters for specific missions, which include but are not limited to battlefield reconnaissance, CSAR, casevac, airborne command post, anti-submarine warfare and mine-sweeping. Specialist helicopters are operated only by the best-funded and most capable militaries.

[edit] Types and roles

Military helicopters play an integral part in the land, sea and air operations of modern militaries. Generally manufacturers will develop airframes in different weight/size classes which can be adapted to different roles through the installation of mission specific equipment. To minimise development costs the basic airframes can be stretched and shortened, be updated with new engines and electronics and have the entire mechanical and flight systems mated to new fuselages to create new aircraft. For example, the UH-1 has given rise to a number of derivatives through stretching and re-engining including the AH-1 was developed using its engines, transmission and rotors.

Modern helicopters have introduced modular systems which allow the same airframe to be configured for different roles, for example the EH-101 in Royal Navy service can be rapidly configured for ASW or transport missions in hours. To at the same time retain flexibility and limit costs, it is possible to fit an airframe for but not with a system, for example in the US Army's AH-64D variants are all fitted to be able to take the Longbow radar system, but not enough sets have been brought to equip the whole force. The systems can be fitted to only those airframes that need it, or when finances allow the purchase of enough units.

[edit] Equipment

The AH-64 Apache is an exercise in survivability, the engines are in armoured boxes either side of the transmission, the fuselage and undercarriage form a crumple zone, and made of five armoured spars each, the rotors are capable of withstanding 23mm auto-cannon fire.^[1]

Tiger UHT of the German Army

Most military helicopters are armoured to some extent however all equipment is limited to the installed power and lift capability and the limits installed equipment places on useful payload. The most extensive armour is placed around the pilots, engines, transmission and fuel tanks. Fuel lines, control cables and power to the tail rotor may also be shrouded by Kevlar armour. The most heavily armoured helicopters are attack, assault and special forces helicopters. In transport helicopters the crew compartment may or may not be fully armoured, a compromise being to give the passengers Kevlar lined seats but to leave the compartment for the most part unarmoured. Survivability is enhanced by redundancy and the placement of components to protect each other. For example the Blackhawk family of helicopters uses two engines and can continue to fly on only one, the engines are separated by the transmission and placed so that if attacked from any one flank, the engine on that flank acts to protect the transmission and the engine on the other side from damage.

Electronics such as communication radios, navigation aids ECM and IFF are common to all helicopters. Installed systems are tailored for mission specific helicopters, for example optical and IR cameras for scout helicopters, dunking sonar and search radar for anti-submarine helicopters, extra radio transceivers and computers for radio relay and command post helicopters etc.

Armour, fire suppression, dynamic and electronics systems enhancements are invisible to casual inspection, as a cost cutting measure some nations and services have been tempted to use what are essentially commercial helicopters for military purposes. For example it has been reported that the PRC is carrying out a rapid enlargement of its assault helicopter regiments with the civilian version of the Mil Mi-17.^[2] These helicopters without armour and electronic counter measures will function well enough for training exercises and photo opportunities but would be suicidal to deploy in the assault role in actual combat situations. The intention of China appears to be to be to retrofit these helicopters with locally produced electronics and armour when possible, freeing available funds to allow rapid creation of enough regiments to equip each of its Group Armies. Allowing a widespread build up of experience in helicopter operations.

[edit] Attack helicopters

A Russian Mi-24P Hind-Flarge helicopter gunship and low-capacity troop transport at Naval Air Station Fallon at Fallon, Nevada (2000).

Main article: Attack helicopter

Attack helicopters are armed helicopters used in the anti tank and close air support roles. The first of the modern attack helicopters was the Vietnam era AH-1 Cobra, which pioneered the now classic format of pilot and weapons officer seated in tandem in a narrow fuselage, chin mounted guns and disposable armament of rockets and missiles mounted on stub wings. To enable to find and distinguish their targets modern attack helicopers are equipped with very capable sensors^[3] such as the Longbow mm wave radar system, this makes attack helicopters such as the UK's new Apache helicopters useful as reconnaissance assets.

[edit] Transport helicopters

CH 53 with possible internal load

CH-21C with 105mm howitzer as an under-slung load

Military transport helicopters are used in places where the use of conventional aircraft is impossible. For example the military transport helicopter is the primary transport asset of US Marines deploying from LHDs and LHA. The landing possibilities of helicopter are almost unlimited, and where landing is impossible, for example densely packed jungle, the ability of the helicopter to hover allows troops to deploy by abseiling and roping.

Transport helicopters are operated in assault, medium and heavy classes. Air assault helicopters are usually the smallest of the transport types, and designed to move an infantry section and their equipment. Helicopters in the assault role are generally armed for self protection both in transit and for suppression of the landing zone. This armament may be in the form of door gunners, or the modification of the helicopter with stub wings and pylons for the carriage of missiles and rocket pods. For example the Sikorsky S-70 fitted with the ESSM (External Stores Support System) and the Hip E variant of the Mil Mi-8 can carry as much disposable armament as some dedicated attack helicopters. The assault helicopter can be thought of as the modern successor to the military glider.

Not all militaries are able to operate a full range of transport helicopters so the medium transport type as the most useful compromise is probably the most common specialist transport type. Medium transport helicopters are generally capable of moving up to a platoon of infantry and are capable of being able to transport towed artillery or light vehicles either internally or as under-slung roles. Unlike the assault helicopter they are usually not expected to land directly in a contested landing zone, but are used to reinforce and resupply landing zones taken by the initial assault wave. Examples include the unarmed versions of the Mil Mi-8, the Super Puma and the CH-46 Sea Knight.

Heavy lift helicopters are the largest and most capable of the transport types, currently limited in service to the CH-53 Sea Stallion the related CH-53E Super Stallion, CH-47 Chinook, Mil Mi-26 and Aérospatiale Super Frelon. Capable of lifting up to 80 troops and moving small AFVs (usually as slung loads but also internally). These helicopters operate in the tactical transport role in much the same way as small fixed wing turboprop air-lifters. The lower speed, range and increased fuel consumption of helicopters being more than compensated by their ability to operate anywhere.

[edit] Observation helicopters

A Gazelle helicopter of the French ALAT.

An OH-58 Kiowa showing its mast mounted sensor ball and a rocket pod.

With the demise of the RAH-66 the similar Kawasaki OH-1 represents an ultimate form of the armed reconnaissance helicopter.

For the most part helicopters in the Light Observation Helicopter class have replaced aircraft such as the Taylorcraft L-2 and Fieseler Fi 156, in the scout (reconnaissance) and observation (airborne Artillery observer/FAC) roles. Examples of the observation helicopter include the Aérospatiale Gazelle in UK service and the OH-58 Kiowa.^[4]

Initially such helicopters were limited to visual observation by the aircrew, and most feature rounded well glazed cockpits for maximum visibility. The human eye in time became supplemented by ever better optical sensor systems, today these include multi-function Lasers capable of acting as Laser detection and ranging and targeting systems, Low light cameras and infrared line-scanner systems often these are mounted in a stabilised optical sensor ball. These sensor balls have been found in various positions, those in the chin and nose having the advantage of causing the least disorientation when being used as a night flying aid. Other positions include the cabin roof, and atop a mast above the rotors, these positions having the advantage of allowing the majority of the helicopter to remain hidden when using hedge hopping and Nap-of-the-earth (NOE) flight profiles.

At first such helicopters were usually unarmed or lightly armed for fear that pilots would be too aggressive and actively attack targets they should have been observing. In many ways the observation helicopter weapons are its sensor suite and communications equipment. Even without modern sensors observation helicopters could call in artillery fire and airstrikes. With modern sensors, communications and navigation equipment the scout helicopter is even more deadly being able to provide terminal guidance to ATGWs, laser guided bombs and other missiles and munitions fired by other platforms but handed over to its control.^[5][6] The netcentric battlefield will see the scout helicopter as a node both capable of the creation and use of targeting information. By not carrying weapons the survivability of the Scout helicopter can be said to be increased by being able to devote reserve of power to speed and agility. Even so, the trend is for the creation of the armed scout role, initially with gun and rocket pods, with modern light weight systems allowing the carriage of ATGWs and AAMs of the fire-and-forget variety. The cancelled RAH-66 Comanche representing for the time being a pinnacle for the manned armed reconnaissance helicopter, the designs offered as partial replacements both being based on the same two entrants of the original LOH competition (see Bell ARH-70).^[7]

[edit] Utility helicopters

Main article: Utility helicopter

UH-1D helicopters airlift members of the 2nd Battalion, U.S. 14th Infantry Regiment (U.S. Army), 1966.

The utility helicopter is a jack of all trades. The same basic helicopter can be equipped for different specialist roles for example the Eurocopter Dauphin and its variants exist as anti-tank, anti-submarine, search and rescue, transport and VIP versions. In a utility configuration the same helicopter can be rapidly configured to carry out any mission called upon, it may not do this job as well as a specialist helicopter but well enough to make a difference. The reason for utility helicopters over dedicated helicopters is that not all operators can maintain a full gamut of specialist helicopters, this reason for this may be

• financial a nation or service cannot afford to acquire and maintain all the helicopters it needs.
• technological e.g. the PZL W-3 Sokół is the only helicopter type manufactured by Poland and this one type is being adapted to fill all that nations helicopter needs.
• operational e.g. amphibious assault ships can only carry a limited number of helicopters, so the ones they do carry have to do all possible jobs.
• political e.g. the air force refuses to allow the army to operate helicopters above a certain size and capability.

[edit] Maritime helicopters

A Lynx HAS.8 helicopter of the Royal Navy, visible is its chin mounted radar radome and nose mounted optical sensor ball.

A LAMPS SH-60B Seahawk 2 helicopter, compare with the picture of the Lynx. In addition to the radar and optical sensors in similar positions, its MAD bird can also be seen.

Polish Navy's Mil Mi-14PŁ on display at Radom Air Show 2005

Russian Kamov Ka-27 shipborne helicopters, showing its unique contra-rotating rotor system, and bulbous radar radome

Among the first practical uses of helicopters when the R4 and R5 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 guard aircraft operating from aircraft carriers tasked with the recovery of pilots who had been forced to ditch in the water.

As helicopter technology matured with increased payload and endurance anti-submarine warfare was added to its 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 1960's turboshaft engines and miniaturisation allowed two development paths, smaller helicopters such as the Westland Wasp as capable as the earlier piston engined helicopters but small enough to operate from frigates, and helicopters such as the Sea King with integral dunking sonar, radar and magnetic anomaly detection equipment installed which allowed it to act autonomously of its parent vessel.

Today maritime helicopters still fall into smaller multi-role types and larger medium types. The smaller types such as the LAMPS and the Westland Lynx are designed to be operated from frigate and destroyer sized combatants. The usefulness of such helicopters and the desire to carry and operate two such helicopters from frigate and destroyer sized vessels has had an impact in the maximum size of such helicopters and a the minimum size of such ships. With increasing miniaturisation, better engines and modern weapons, a convergence of abilities has occurred allowing even the modern destroyer based multi-role helicopters to operate autonomously in the ASW, anti-shipping, transport and SAR and reconnaissance roles. Many are now equipped with optical sensor combinations in a stabilised optical sensor ball.

In some navies the medium to large sized helicopters have been deleted. In other navies they have been retained for operations from carriers and land bases; they form, for example, the main anti-submarine strength of the British, Spanish and Italian carrier air wings. When operating from shore bases, medium and large size helicopters are used as antisubmarine pickets to protect against hostile submarines loitering outside military ports and harbours. The medium and larger sized maritime helicopters are retained because of their endurance and payload advantages over the smaller types. For example, Lynx helicopters operating in the anti-shipping role can only carry the light weight short range Sea Skua, whilst Sea King helicopters operating in the anti-shipping role can carry the heavy weight Sea Eagle missiles.

Soviet maritime helicopters, operating from its cruisers, had the additional role as guidance and mid-course update aircraft to exploit the full range of the cruisers' long range anti-shipping missiles.

Most maritime helicopters are marinised for operation from ships, this includes enhanced protection against salt water corrosion, protection against ingestion of water (including that from hosing down with fresh water to get rid of salt water), the tuning of the electronics fitted to be compatible with the complex electronic equipment of a warship and provision for forced ditching at sea.

[edit] CASEVAC, SAR, CSAR and Special forces

Bell 47 with patient transfer panniers

Fast-roping at a Combat Search and Rescue action, featuring a HH-60G Pave Hawk.

Patient transfer unit for the German Army Aviators Corps CH 53Gs

As helicopters came into service, they began to be used for search and rescue. Helicopters had a theoretical advantage over conventional aircraft by being able to hover and to take off or land from anywhere. Initially, however, their limited range and capacity hindered their effectiveness. In one mission in the Burma Campaign a helicopter had to make multiple trips to ferry out the passengers of a crashed transport. By the Korean War, helicopter technology had progressed to the point where they could accomplish a range of rescue missions. In combat search and rescue missions (CSAR), USAF Para-jumpers would be deployed by helicopter to find, stabilize and extract aircrew downed behind enemy lines. In the CASEVAC/MEDEVAC role, helicopters such as the Bell 47 were able to minimize the time it took to transport wounded troops from the front lines to hospitals.

In the Vietnam war the USAF acquired Sikorsky S-61R (Jolly Green Giant) and MH-53 Pave Low (Super Jolly Green Giant) helicopters for the CSAR mission. Armoured, equipped with multiple miniguns and the best navigation and night flying sensors available, these USAF aircraft were the most sophisticated and powerful of the American transport helicopters.^[8] After the war the MH-53's were continuously updated.

In many ways the helicopters and aircrew of the US Air Force's CSAR force were the best equipped and prepared for the ill fated Operation Eagle Claw. However, interservice rivalry led to each service wanting to be involved and the use of mine-sweeping helicopters as the rotary wing transport element of the mission. Following the failure of Operation Eagle Claw, each of the US services developed a Special Operations helicopter capability. For example, the Army's 160th SOAR acquired helicopters such as the MH-60L variant of the Black Hawk helicopter, equipped with NVG ( night vision goggle) compatible cockpit instrumentation, for the insertion and extraction of special forces.

The United States is one of the few nations in the world that maintains a substantial fleet of specialist helicopters. Most nations satisfy themselves with procuring general purpose helicopters that can be used for a variety of missions, with additional modular systems being fitted when needs arise. For example, while some British Chinook helicopters were equipped with night flying and other equipment to allow them to be used for special forces insertion and extraction missions, this does not prevent them from being used in a general airlift role. The Chinooks can fulfill a CASEVAC role as well because their lifting capacity allows them to carry specialist medical teams and equipment. However, the lack of dedicated helicopters in the British Armed Forces, especially for CASEVAC (those being tasked with CASEVAC coming from a general pool of available aircraft), has caused disquiet both at home and in the field.^[9][10][11]

[edit] Training helicopters

Some services use a version of their operational helicopters, usually in the light class, for pilot training. For example, the British use the Aerospatiale Gazelle both 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^[12] and R44 helicopters for this purpose.

[edit] Tactics and operations

Main article: Air assault

First generation Alouette anti-tank helicopter of the German Army armed with SS.10 missiles

Cobra attack helicopters being refueled at a FARP during Operation Iraqi Freedom. With little danger of being overrun by an enemy counterattack, these grew into semi-permanent bases.

A OH-58 and AH-1 of the 19th Air Cavalry Hawaii ARNG, such a combination would have formed a hunter-killer pair during the Cold War).^[8]

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.^[13]

[edit] High intensity warfare

High intensity warfare helicopter tactics in the West were developed in the context of the Cold War. The helicopter forces of NATO were seen as being critical to blunt any possible massed attack by overwhelming numbers of Soviet soldiers and armour.^[8] For many years, the main strength of these forces were the first generation anti-tank helicopters such as the French Alouette and the British Westland Scout. They were armed with air-to-surface missiles such as the SS.11 and the SS.12. Later these were replaced with the Aerospatiale Gazelle and MBB Bo 105, armed with HOT missiles, in French and German service, and the Westland Lynx, armed with TOW, in British service. Rather than take any attack head-on, the helicopter forces would be used to herd the invading armies into channels to be engaged by NATO armour, stand off munitions and air strikes.

To enhance the combat endurance of the missile-armed helicopters by eliminating the need to fly to and from their bases, transport helicopters would carry technicians, reloads and fuel (usually in under-slung fuel bladders) forward. These transport helicopters would land and set up temporary "Forward Arming and Refueling Points" (FARP) at pre-arranged locations and times to which the armed helicopters would retire to re-arm and refuel with their engines running and the rotors still turning.^[8] As soon as the armed helicopters had been replenished and departed, the technicians would reboard and the transport helicopters would return to base to pick up more fuel and reloads for the next FARP. The security of the FARP was maintained by spending a minimum of time on the ground. With the ability to carry technicians and reloads in its small passenger compartment, the Soviet Mil Mi-24 could act as its own FARP transport.

In the air, a pair of anti-tank helicopters and a pair of unarmed or lightly armed scout helicopters would form hunter-killer teams. Flying at low level in a nap-of-the-earth approach to the enemy, the scout helicopters would be used to both find the enemy and also to map out approaches and ambush positions for the armed helicopters. Later, the scout helicopters would use laser designators to guide missiles fired from the armed helicopters. Having found a target, the scout helicopter can direct the armed helicopters where to fire. The armed helicopters only has to rise from cover briefly to fire its missiles before quickly retreating from danger. With no back blast from firing the missile to give it away, the scout helicopter can guide the missile onto its target in relative safety.

These hunter-killer teams were to work in conjunction with fixed-wing tank-busting and ground-attack aircraft. Against an enemy armoured column traveling down a road, the hunter-killer teams would try to stall the column by destroying the first and last vehicles, allowing time for attacks by fixed wing aircraft.^[8]

In addition to the anti-tank helicopters, the herding of the Soviet forces was to be done by mobile anti-tank teams, such as armoured fighting vehicles armed with anti-tank guided weapons and small commando teams in light vehicles with man-portable ATGWs. British Army plans called for section-sized anti-tank teams armed with man-portable MILAN ATGWs to be moved by the transport version of the Lynx into positions to attack the flanks and rear echelon elements of the invader.

[edit] Low intensity warfare

Main article: Guerrilla warfare

An Iraqi unit prepares to board a US Blackhawk for a COIN operation

In guerrilla warfare and COIN (Counter-insurgency) warfare both sides seek to maintain the freedom to operate whilst denying the opposition the same luxury. In its crudest form, this can be reduced to an attempt to control the ground. Throughout the history of such conflicts, this has become characterised by the invading/government forces digging into protected fortresses and compounds from which to mount patrols and convoys. Insurgents and guerrillas will seek to force the capitulation of the regular forces through ambushes, sabotage and assassination. In a game of cat and mouse, the COIN forces seek to deter the guerrillas from operating, and to catch and eliminate those that do. The guerrilla forces will seek to avoid the COIN forces if possible unless they are in a position to ambush and win an engagement with the COIN forces.

The operation of COIN forces from fixed bases linked by a fixed network of roads may become 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. For example during The Troubles the Provisional IRA became adept at avoiding conventional fixed roadblocks and patrols. To prevent predictable patterns, patrols were deployed by helicopter. These were known as Eagle Patrols (initially using Westland Wessex and later supplemented byAérospatiale Pumas) and were able to disrupt the IRA's ability to move personnel and arms.^[8] Capable of carrying 16 to 20 troops, these large-capacity helicopters were able to move enough troops to form effective mobile road blocks, with half the force forming search parties and the other half forming two overwatching security teams. These road blocks would be placed to intercept vehicles identified by a network of watchtowers, observation helicopters, or by the commander of the Eagle Patrol as acting suspiciously.

In the aftermath of the American invasion of Iraq helicopters have been used as aerial supply trucks and troop transports to counter the Iraqi insurgency.^[14]

[edit] Manufacturers

It is useful to think of helicopter manufacturers as falling into two categories, those that can design, certify and manufacture new helicopter designs from scratch and those that can only manufacture extant designs under license. Boeing Vertol is an example of the first type and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, who license-produced Boeing Vertol designs for much of its recent history, is an example of the second type.

The peace dividend at the end of the Cold War and the increased cost of developing new helicopters has seen a consolidation of arms manufacturers,^[15][16][17] and helicopter manufacturers are no exception, with even great names such as Aerospatiale disappearing. With too many manufacturers chasing the same contracts, and the removal of government subsidies, it was impossible for individual manufacturers to absorb the costs of bringing a design to maturity that subsequently failed commercially. For example the AgustaWestland EH101, which will be a mainstay of the newly merged AgustaWestland company for the foreseeable future, had, and to an extent still has, the ability to break its parents. Although sales of the design are growing, there is still the danger that not enough helicopters will be sold to be able to maintain the teams needed for the continuous development of the design to keep it competitive over the next twenty to thirty years, and to eventually develop its replacement. The sporadic nature of defense procurement is also unattractive to companies wishing to maintain a constant income stream.^[18] While the upkeep of a work force and industrial infrastructure is expensive without a full work load,^[19] companies that have reduced capacity have lost work for fear that they would not be able to meet production targets.

Consolidation is seen as a way of both limiting the number of competing designs and increasing the financial strength of companies. However, helicopter manufacturing is seen as a strategic industry, and some governments have sought to protect their national champions from the marketplace.^[20] Even when consolidation is inevitable, governments and politicians have sought to play matchmaker, as seen in the Westland affair. In the United States, in addition to the concern of maintaining national champions, there is also the fear of a loss of competition in the domestic market, creating a situation where designs and prices become uncompetitive. Increasing competition by considering foreign designs is something the US government is especially loathe to do. The selection of a foreign helicopter for the new Presidential helicopter being seen by some as unpatriotic.^[21] This is a problem facing the US defence industry as a whole. There is the very real possibility that defence contractors with failing bids will leave segments of the industry for good,^[22] leaving an ever smaller pool of qualified contractors. One possible solution would be to use a system similar to the OKBs of the Soviet Union, where bidding companies whose designs were not chosen would be allowed to bid as subcontractors on the winning design.

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.

A 2006 re-organisation of the helicopter industry in Russia created Oboronprom, a holding company to bring together Mil and Manufacturing Plants. In the Soviet-planned economic system, the Mil and Kamov OKB's were responsible only for the design of helicopters. After a winning design had been chosen it was assigned to large manufacturing complexes responsible only for production. For example, both the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant and the Kazan Helicopter Plant were responsible for the production of helicopters derived from the Mil Mi-8 family. The products of these factories were then exported through state export corporations, the predecessors of the present Rosoboronexport. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the break up of the Soviet Empire, the helicopter industry in Russia became fragmented. For example, PZL, in the former Soviet satellite state of Poland, was tasked with the production of light helicopters. As a result, there was no production of light helicopters in Russia and the Mil Mi-8 family of helicopters was used for tasks which in the West would have been carried out by much smaller OH-58 Kiowa-sized helicopters. Although light helicopter designs had been produced by Mil and Kamov, there was no longer a system by which the manufacturing complexes could be forced to retool to produce these designs. There was also a damaging conflict of interest between the manufacturing complexes and Rosoboronexport, with both Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant and Kazan Helicopter Plant competing to undercut official Rosoboronexport prices, by exporting helicopters destined for military users as civilian in purpose.^[2]

[edit] See also

• Army aviation
• Helicopter bombing
• List of active United States military helicopters

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• FM 1-100 Army Aviation Operations from 21 February 1997 by Headquarters Department of the Army at GlobalSecurity.org
• FM 1-108 Doctrine For Army Special Operations Aviation Forces from 3 November 1993 by Headquarters Department of the Army at GlobalSecurity.org
• FM 1–111 Aviation Brigades from 27 October 1997 by Headquarters Department of the Army at GlobalSecurity.org
• FM 1-112 Attack Helicopter Operations from 2 April 1997 by Headquarters Department of the Army at GlobalSecurity.org
• FM 1-113 Utility and Cargo Helicopter Operations from 25 June 1997 by Headquarters Department of the Army at GlobalSecurity.org
• FM 1-114 Air Cavalry Squadron and Troop Operations from 1 February 2000 by Headquarters Department of the Army at GlobalSecurity.org
• FM 1-120 Army Air Traffic Service Contingency and Combat Zone Operations from 22 May 1995 by Headquarters Department of the Army at GlobalSecurity.org
• FM 1-140 Helicopter Gunnery from 29 March 1996 by Headquarters Department of the Army at GlobalSecurity.org
• FM 3-04.500 Army Aviation Maintenance from 26 September 2000 by Headquarters Department of the Army at GlobalSecurity.org
• FM 90-4 Air Assault Operations from 16 March 1987 by Headquarters Department of the Army at GlobalSecurity.org

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Military helicopters

• Homepage of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm
• Homepage of the UK's Army Air Corps
• Helicopter page from RAF homepage
• French Ministry of Defence ALAT page
• CombatAircraft.com - Helicopters