Sunday Torygraph: Give us an enemy to fight, says chief of Britain's Apache helicopter fleet
It is the most lethal battle-field killing machine ever devised. Weighing 10 tons and bristling with awesome weaponry, the Apache attack helicopter will revolutionise the way that battles are fought by the British Army.....
Although 9 Regiment AAC, which has its headquarters at Dishforth Airfield in North Yorkshire, has only recently passed the tests to take part in military operations it has already begun training for war. Afghanistan is likely to be the stage where the Apache cuts its teeth in battle. The unit is the first of three attack regiments that will be part of 16 Air Assault Brigade and will be used to support the infantry, Royal Navy and the Special Forces on operations.
Lt Col Richard Felton, the unit's commanding officer, who has spent the past 18 months training his regiment, which is equipped with 16 Apaches, insists that his troops need to gain operational experience. He emphasises that while the Apache is an awesome killing machine, it will also be used in a wide variety of peacekeeping operations.
"I think it is absolutely imperative that we are sent on an operation and whether it is Afghanistan or Iraq is not up to me but I hope it will be somewhere soon," said the 40-year-old colonel. "These helicopters cost £30 million each. That's a lot of money and I think we have a duty to demonstrate to the British public that they have got value for money. "Morale among my troops couldn't be any higher; we are in the perfect position to go on operations."
Col Felton has 580 soldiers under his command, but only 54 are Apache pilots, including one woman who is taking the Apache course.
"The Apache pilots are pretty special people but so are all the members of the regiment," said the colonel who is also an Apache pilot. "They need to be trained Army helicopter pilots before they can apply to fly Apaches and there is a 15-20 per cent failure rate on the course.
"To fly the Apache you have you have to have a large mental capacity to process and analyse data. Many pilots can't cope with the amount of information coming at them and they get over-stressed.
"Apache pilots have to have the capacity to absorb the data, fly the aircraft into battle, locate and destroy the enemy and return home all at the same time as the enemy are trying to kill them.''Not easy, but at the end of the day we will have the best trained attack helicopter force in the world."
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Wow! absorb data, fly, do your job and chew gum - and all at the same time!. How do they do it......
Such modesty......
