Helicopters provide infantry with both transportation and fire support. They are the most tightly-integrated air asset available to ground troops and act as a major force multiplier.
Helicopters are commonly employed in a support role, and all players are expected to be familiar with their employment in the combined arms fight. That familiarity begins with knowing the pros and cons of their combined arms role.
Pros & Cons
The pros and cons of helicopters in the combined arms role are as follows.
Pros
Observation. Helicopters are great at reconnaissance and security. This is in part due to their relatively low speed and the low altitude that they operate at, combined with observation pods on many of the most common helicopters employed.
Insertion/extraction capability. Helicopters can airlift troops and drop them at will nearly anywhere they want. This allows for great flexibility in planning operations.
Orbit capability. A helicopter can stay "on station" over the ground forces it is supporting with ease, due to the dynamics of helicopter flight as compared to what jets are able to do. A helicopter that is orbiting over friendly forces is available to provide support in the form of machine guns, cannon fire, rockets, ATGMs, or observation, depending on the variant and armaments.
Rapid reaction to Close Air Support requests. Due to the ability to orbit as described previously, a helicopter acting in a CAS role can rapidly react to any support requests made. This reduces the time between a CAS request being made and rounds landing on target. This, in turn, makes it more likely that the CAS will be able to suppress or kill the enemy threat before it can do harm to friendly forces.
Precision CAS. Helicopters can be very precise in their employment of fires, due to speed, altitude, magnified optics, the capability to hover, et cetera.
Stealth. Helicopters can get low to the ground and can hide in terrain in a fashion similar to ground vehicles or even infantry. They can transport troops in a concealed fashion, as well as sneak around in a combat capability, popping up into view only when they're ready to kill something.
Cons
More vulnerable to most threat weapons. Helicopters can be taken down by a wide range of weapon types if they're not carefully employed. They fly low and slow relative to jets, and transport variants can be very vulnerable when flying into or out of a landing zone.
Weaker armament than jets. Helicopters cannot lift as much ordnance as jet aircraft, meaning that they almost never have anything that can pack the same kind of punch as a 500lb or 2000lb bomb from a jet. However, they make up for this with the precision of their fires.
Loud. The enemy will definitely hear helicopters coming in, unless in the midst of a major battle.
Airborne Assaults
An airborne assault is simply an assault which uses helicopters to move the infantry into position. Airborne assaults are planned by the highest leadership element in game - usually the Platoon or Company Commander in a cooperative environment.
Planning the Assault
Landing Zone (LZ) Considerations
The first thing that must be considered for an airborne assault is where the landing zone(s) will be. Things like equipment loadout, force composition, main objectives, etc are typically done on the mission-makers side, so they are not generally planned for at the platoon level. The platoon gets the orders [in the form of a mission operation order] and acts on them.
When choosing a landing zone, the following must be taken into consideration. In short, you use METT-TC and OCOKA, but specific emphasis is made on the following elements of it.
Terrain. What kind of terrain is around the objective? Is it hilly, flat, mountainous, etc? Flat terrain makes LZ selection difficult and generally forces you to land further from the objective. Hilly, rough terrain can allow for a closer LZ to the objective, but makes it harder to find a good LZ to set down at - which increases the usefulness of being able to drop troops without setting the helicopter down.
Approaches. Being able to approach the LZ and never come into visual view of the enemy is highly desired. If they cannot see you, they cannot hit you with direct-fire weapons, and you may be able to confuse them as to your precise landing spot. Terrain depressions, hills, and even forests can be used to mask the helo on the approach.
Cover/Concealment availability. Once the troops are on the ground, what kind of cover and concealment will they have? The more the merrier. At the same time, landing in an area with too much hard cover can be tricky for pilots, increasing the risk of damaging the aircraft.
Proximity to the enemy. The closer you try to land to the enemy, the riskier things get. While 'hot' landings can be done, they require the element of surprise to be effective, and benefit greatly from CAS and artillery fires being used to suppress or otherwise occupy the enemy during them.
Likelihood of patrols. The more likely enemy forces will be patrolling far out around the objective, the further the LZ should be, or the more the LZ should be prepped (by artillery or CAS) before the landing occurs.
Enemy anti-air capabilities. If the enemy has MANPAD missiles or Tigris AA vehicles, a masked approach becomes critical. If that is not possible, the LZ must be far enough away from the enemy that there is no reasonable chance of being engaged by the enemy anti-air at or near the landing zone.
After the primary LZs are chosen, a set of alternate LZs should be determined based on the possibility of enemy contact at the main LZs. Alternate LZs should typically be positioned 500 or more meters further away from the expected enemy positions than the primary LZs, as an additional safety measure.
Coordination
Once the LZ(s) and alternate LZ(s) are decided on (and clearly marked on the map), the next step is to coordinate the overall assault. At this point, the following needs to be hashed out.
What squads will be in what helos? As soon as this is known, the squad leaders will oversee the embarkation of their troops into their assigned helos.
What helos will go to what LZs, and in what order will they fly? Establishing an order of flight is critical if one wants to get to the LZ in any sort of organized fashion.
What is the planned route to the LZ? High/low alt, terrain following, etc. Mapping out the route with map marks is always useful. Note that pilots can use the 'vehicle' channel to place detailed waypoints on the map for their own reference during flight. When time is available to do this, it should always be done, as it greatly reduces the workload on the pilot/navigator and allows them to concentrate more fully on situational awareness.
What order will the helos land? Simultaneously, staggered? Are waves necessary?
Simultaneous. A simultaneous landing is when all aircraft hit the LZ within about fifteen seconds of each other. This puts a lot of boots on the ground very rapidly and forces any defending forces to split their fires between multiple helicopters. Simultaneous landings typically cover a decent stretch of ground, which further dilutes the effectiveness of any defensive enemy fire. The number of guns on the helos also helps to suppress the landing zone on the way in, and provides support on the way out.
Staggered. Staggered landings occur when helicopters hit the LZ one after the other, with 30 seconds to a minute or more between each landing. This allows one squad to get on the ground, establish the security of the LZ, and provide coverage as the next helo comes in. Staggered landings are sometimes forced by the terrain - if there is only a small LZ in a clearing that is suitable for landing, you may not be able to orchestrate a simultaneous landing.
Waves. Waves occur when the number of helicopters available cannot airlift the entire assault force in one go. The key characteristic of wave landings is that the initial force will be alone on the ground for as long as it takes for the aircraft to return to the staging area, pick up the next wave, and fly them in. If the enemy becomes aware of the fact that waves are being used, they are likely to try to ambush successive waves. It is important to not become predictable in flight path/ingress directions when using waves.
What are the responsibilities of the various squads and fireteams upon landing? Each squad needs to know where to go immediately upon landing so that they clear the LZs as quickly as possible and provide security for the assault force. Security must be given high-priority consideration, as it is critical to the success of getting all friendly infantry onto the ground safely. Each fireteam should know what area of responsibility it has, and the squads should be given clear orders regarding what areas they are responsible for covering at the landing zone.
At the Landing Zone
Assuming that none of the above-listed contingencies happen (downed helo, heavy contact, emergency landing), the following steps take place at the landing zone.
The helo comes into range of the LZ and prepares to land. Speed and altitude drop accordingly. It is important that the pilot's approach is smooth and fast, as it minimizes the amount of time the embarked troops are in a vulnerable position.
The door gunner and crew chief scan the LZ area and suppress any contacts as necessary. The helo crew scans vigilantly to ensure that the helo is not about to set down into an ambush. If they see anything suspicious, they immediately report it to the pilot.
Helo touches down at the LZ.
Pilot announces "Go, go, go!" loudly, which the senior infantry leader on the helo repeats. It is important to let the pilot make this announcement, since they are the one that knows whether or not the landing is complete. "Jumping the gun" and hopping out too soon can result in rather nasty falls.
Upon hearing "Go, go, go!", all infantry immediately dismount, and the door gunner and crew chief hold fire to avoid hitting any dismounting infantry. The door gunner dismounts after their fellow infantry are safely out. Note that when disembarking, every player should avoid crossing the door gunners' lines of fire if possible. Even though the door gunner and crew chief are supposed to hold their fire when troops are debarking, there may be times when they have to risk it and fire anyway. Obviously, running in front of something like an M134 can end your day in a real harsh way. To play it safe, players should do their best to avoid crossing the lines of fire of the door gunner and crew chief. As a door gunner or crew chief, you should exercise a great deal of caution when firing in the five seconds after touchdown during which the troops are disembarking and moving out.
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View full-sizeDownload Senior element leader (ie: squad leader) oversees the dismounting process. They step away from the aircraft a few paces, take a knee if possible, and watch the passenger section of the aircraft.
All infantry immediately head to their assigned areas. A typical squad insertion involves the fireteams spreading out on either side of the landing zone to provide 360° security. Each fireteam moves away from the aircraft, spacing out and orienting outward to defend against any nearby threats. If hard cover and concealment is around, the infantry naturally integrate it into their movement and defensive plans.
When no troops are left on the helo, the senior element leader tells the helo pilot that ground forces are clear of the helo. The crew chief is also observing the cargo area and will tell the pilot as well - either can be used as the signal for lifting off.
The helo takes off. Upon hearing that ground forces are clear, the crew chief resumes firing suppression of any enemy forces around the LZ. The pilot then begins their post-insertion mission, which oftentimes is that of aerial reconnaissance and support.
