Helicopter operations in Reforger 76

[MHW]

Here's a film about U.S. Army helicopter operations during Reforger 76. 

I hadn't realized quite what nap-of-the-earth flight means, in an operational setting and in heavily-wooded Western Europe. At 2:00, a Cobras rises above a hedgerow and launches a TOW against a target, then moves to an alternate firing position with its skids just a few feet above the ground. The helicopter is operating more like a more nimble M113 than like a fast jet. Suddenly, the argument that the attack helicopter is the real descendant of the WWII tank destroyer really clicks.

The film later shows an antitank ambush by helicopter-inserted TOW teams, their launchers mounted on Mules. (Makings of a scenario, there.) There's also footage of an air assault operation. This leaves me wondering—where did the infantry force for an air assault come from? Manuals don't say where the troops come from, and as far as I can tell, there were few, if any, light infantry units slated for deployment in Central Europe. Dismounted mechanized infantry, stripped from their vehicles? Was this at all a common tactic?

 

Edited May 26, 2023 by MHW
Correction: Mules, not Gamma Goats.

[Casual_Insanity]

This makes me wonder how the helicopter models work in the game, i could easily be wrong but it always seems like they attack from higher in the air than how they are portrayed in this film. Anyways its very interesting how close to the ground they were flying, some of the scenes from the WWIII books i have been reading make a bit more sense now.

[Grey_Fox]

3 hours ago, Casual_Insanity said:

This makes me wonder how the helicopter models work in the game, i could easily be wrong but it always seems like they attack from higher in the air than how they are portrayed in this film. Anyways its very interesting how close to the ground they were flying, some of the scenes from the WWIII books i have been reading make a bit more sense now.

The model used for aircraft doesn't seem to have changed from the WW2 games. They're still essentially P-47s doing gun runs, just with TOW missiles, Mavericks, Hellfires, and CBUs.

Edited May 28, 2023 by Grey_Fox

[MikeyD]

You'll notice the height aircraft coming in if you're got AA cannon shooting at them. Depending on the airframe, AA guns will aim anywhere from flat on the horizon to straight up. F4 Phantom comes in at a considerably higher altitude than A-10. Since a lot of maps are shaped like bowls, ringed by hills or treelines, its not so easy to get helicopters to fire at you from the horizon line. They need to clear surrounding obstacles to fire.

Edited May 28, 2023 by MikeyD

[MHW]

Found the original film, a 15-minute promotional piece by Bell Helicopter, Six Klicks to Schotten. The unexcerpted version gives more background about the exercise. The heliborne troops are from the 101st Airborne.

[Bobjack1240]

The devs should have made loitering helicopters like in the Wargame Series.