There is no suggestion of flying INTO a provincial centre or area of interest. A flight of helos would simply deposit the patrol at a distance from the objective, allowing the foot-sloggers to foot-slog in on an unpredictable axis - anything up to 10 or 12 clicks.
Have you seen the terrain in AFG.....it somewhat limits approach directions and exposes the pongos to 10 or 12 clicks worth of ambush...snipers and IEDS.
A variation on the well-proven aural deception theme of having the heavy hog team overfly the LZ in trail as two hovering slicks deposited their SAS boys in a jungle LZ might be as follows. 180 flare/hover in a number of locations raising dust - and in one of those locations deplanement occurs. Unless you're under close visual observation, the patrol's infiltration is likely to be unconfirmed/undetected. In the big scheme of things, intentionally generated uncertainty is worth ten times the best camouflage. Drop a few coloured smokes here and there along the way to generate Taliban confusion and R/T indiscipline.
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Yes we are familiar that tactic, and it would be nice to have the additional assets to play at that game....the TB watch everything and report very coherently as to what has been dropped and don't for one second think that they don't have NVDs.
as well as being surrounded by 100 ft tall trees of a triple canopied jungle. When you sank beneath the canopy you lost your vital headwind and got the RPM warning beeping - just to add to your angst. The Sqn boggy was always no 13 into a 12 acft pad. Overpitching and hitting like a bag of ****e was always on the cards.
I'm afraid that exposing the aircraft to undue risk due to poor airmanship through a lack of performance planning is not appropriate in the 'new age' and probably never will be again. Losing a CH47, Tiger or MRH ain't quite the same as losing a Huey, politically or financially.
The difficulties in Afghanistan are only a variation on a well-worn theme.
When were you last there?
And 7x7, I have 20 years of RAF behind me, so don't tar me with the AAAvn brush....
HPT