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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 2563.PDF
Far left The MH-S3E and, below, its fuel powered and heavy infrared jammer. Left The MH-53J with updated mission avionics and, below, the much neater electrically powered IR jammer. Present plans call for 41 MH-S3Es to be converted to J standard Flir, and put it in as a waypoint and forget it. If we need to return to that subject, then we can have the INS generate 'fly-to' commands on the Flir overlay and bring us back to put the subject back in the Flir. "We also have an auto-hover coupler, so we can put in a reference in INS and fly to within 2 n.m., then bring in the coupler. At that point we'll get a readout on this ILS-type hover indicator. All we do is fly the needles until we can put this box over it; the box indicates Flir field of view. The cross can be generated by the INS, or a manpack radar beacon, or from a Flir-generated waypoint input. From the half-mile point we go to the fly-by-wire stick. This hover-trim stick is a secondary cyclic control mounted on the right-hand armrest of each seat which gives finer control with one-fifth the authority of the main cyclic and is more accurate. We are really talking of flying maybe six or ten hours each way to find an extremely small feature—e.g. a single man in a field—and getting into the hover over him for pickup. The heading and altitude are held auto matically, the Doppler holds the position, and we override that with the sidestick." But how covert can you be in a very large and extremely noisy helicopter? Weikel explains: "Well we don't fly where people expect us to fly. We get low—50ft on NVG or 100ft on radar—and go fast, using the moving map to obtain terrain masking. We are radio-quiet, using burst transmission to satellite relays, and we can narrow our radar beam down to only 4° wide. As far as we and our customers are concerned it's a successful mission if we and they get in and out without anybody knowing we've been there. If we're seen, then the mission is compromised. But if we are seen, then we can defend ourselves if need be. "We carry 1,0001b of armour, all our fuel system and lines are self-sealing up to 0.50cal, and the external 650gal tanks can resist a 12-7mm hit and are jettisonable. We have chaff/flares and passive IRCM, and, should we need to, can dump 1,0001b of fuel a minute. For a helicopter we are fast—170kt at 50,0001b combat maximum gross weight —and we carry three 7 • 62mm Miniguns or three 0-5in machine-guns which fire 900 rounds per minute of high-explosive/ armour-piercing. The Miniguns put out 6,000 rounds per minute each at their top rate of fire, or 4,000 rounds at the lower rate. If the threat is a helicopter, then I'll outrun it while the ramp gunner keeps its pilot entertained. Don't forget we'd mainly oper ate at night, preferably in bad weather; there ain't many folk who are equipped or trained to go through the weeds at 170kt in those conditions. "Fighters? Well, we will see him first on the RWR; it's very unlikely he'll get a visual tally on us without radar at night. We do fighter ACM, and there is no way he is going to get a guns shot at me, I'm just too manoeuvrable. He'd need a lookdown/ shootdown missile, not just lookdown/ shootdown radar to get us. Then don't forget we have chaff/flares and ECM. Fighters I don't see as a problem, the way we operate. "The most dangerous point is when we're in the hover deploying troops. Then the danger could be groundfire hitting the pilots, so we get the troops out fast and get away. We use the fast-rope system, which is much quicker than abseiling. Across the top of the ramp is a bar to which we attach ropes. You fast-stop into the hover, throw out the ropes, and the Special Forces people just slide down them like a fireman down a pole. They wear asbestos gloves because of the friction, and that is their only method of braking. I think your SAS came up with that one." Covert and fast long-range infiltration/ exfiltration and support is also the mission of the 8th SOS, which operates the MC-130E Combat Talon variant of the C-130 Hercu les. These Combat Talons are rare—there are only 14 in the world, and six of those are at Hurlburt, says Maj Skip Davenport. "We * FLIGHT INTERNA TIONAL, 10 September 1988 43
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