via Army.mil
"We need to make sure the ground-force commander's mission and intent are met," said Maj. Matthew S. O'Neill, 3rd BCT aviation officer. "We also need to stay within the capabilities and limitations of the aircraft."40 aircraft in the sky.
With any operation where aircraft are involved, safety is a primary concern. During Exercise Golden Eagle, there will be multiple aircraft flying close to each other, some while carrying equipment via sling load. In addition to having numerous aircraft conducting missions, there will also be live-fire exercises being conducted by artillery units.
"There will be approximately 40 aircraft in the air simultaneously," said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Brian McKnight, 5-101st CAB standardization pilot. "There will be more than 30 sling loads and more than 1,000 personnel moved on the main day of the exercise. We also have to deconflict our air space with what the artillery is doing. The senior aviators have come together and used their experience to predict where the friction points are going to be and put plans in place to mitigate those risk factors."
Despite the myriad of moving parts and often tedious complexity of timing and synchronization necessary for success, having an air assault heritage in the 101st Airborne Division (AASLT) proved to be a major asset in the planning of Golden Eagle.
"We are the 101st and we have the Gold Book and we are the gold standard for air assaults," said Blanton. "
1000 personnel moved by air on the first day.
This is like an IA Drang Valley big freaking exercise kinda deal. Quite honestly I've never seen an Army Brigade sized Air Assault. I thought that they didn't do that anymore (not since Vietnam anyway).
This is impressive but it still faces the same issues that I see with the Marine Corps moving toward an almost exclusively aviation based assault structure.
What happens when you run into a helicopter ambush?
Did everyone forget Karbala?
