Kiowa Warrior combat pilot Adam Korinek fondly recalls the OH-58

[gdotts]

Good read....

https://militaryaviationchronicles.com/iraq-afghanistan/kiowa-warrior-combat-pilot-adam-korinek-fondly-recalls-the-oh-58/

 

"Why was assault flying not as attractive to Mr. Korinek? He explained that, “While the assault guys were very good at what they do their flight profiles tended to be more straight-line flying with an emphasis on formation flight and working to hit their ‘time on target’ with great precision. In contrast, scout pilots flew between and below treetop-level, darted between buildings, and routinely passed under bridges and power lines. Now THAT was the kind of flying I wanted to do! From that point, my decision on what airframe to fly was quickly made!”

 

"The 58 was a 4-bladed aircraft with tapered blade tips which made it very quiet for a helicopter. We liked to approach a target from downwind and at low altitude which almost completely masked our approach audibly speaking. Yet, it was an exceptionally squirrelly aircraft, and it actually had a Stability Augmentation System (SCAS) built in to reduce some of that sensitivity.” However, Adam soon learned to “embrace that control sensitivity, and often flew with all of the force trim, which is a mechanical tightening of the controls in the cockpit, whereas SCAS is an electronically controlled system that dampens the control inputs removed from the flight controls. “In point of fact,” added, Mr. Korinek, “that control sensitivity enabled us to do some amazing things with the aircraft.”

 

I personally am looking for good things coming from Polychop-Simulations with their OH-58d Kiowa and I think they will not disappoint. Found this article looking for combat scout techniques for the Kiowa since I know nothing about flying scout missions.

[gdotts]

Areo-scout tactics

 

Correct me if I am wrong or add to...

One tactic I have gathered so far is Kiowa OH-58D aero scout is a two pronged flight style tactic, where one ship acts as a lead the other as a trail.

Equipped with 4 radios all on different frequencies:

1- Comms (internal frequency) between lead and trail flight and HQ

2- Comms between an air assault flight flying cover for you.

3- Comms with ground troops.

4- Misc. air in the area.

Mission begins with lead and trail flying at specified heights on waypoints to target area to an "IP" (waypoint just before reaching target area) at which point start to fly nap of the earth. Start covering each other communicating back and fourth from cover to cover working your way toward target area useing "pop up to scan" with you mast ball for possible contacts. Communicate your contacts to trail-assault and command center for further instructions.

[Flagrum]

How does a downwind approach (i.e. with the wind) mask your audibly? The wind will transfer the noise towards the target, making the helo easier to hear, right?

[Tengu]

@Flagrum... Yes, I think if you approached with the wind, the wind would better transmit the noise of your approach. But the pilot's quote says "approach a target FROM downwind", so that's sounds like moving upwind to me, ie the opposite of your interpretation.

[Fri13]

How does a downwind approach (i.e. with the wind) mask your audibly? The wind will transfer the noise towards the target, making the helo easier to hear, right?

 

"from downwind" is same as "from downstream".

So they are flying toward upwind ("going upstream").

 

But flying anyways below trees and other obstacles will effectively limit your audible sound, and having wind blow toward you will make it nicely dampen.

[Hunter_5E]

It's always best to be facing into the wind whilst hovering anyway and especially in a squirrely aircraft.

 

I imagine they'd have to deal with some pretty unpredictable turbulence at times when hiding behind and moving between cover. That would be made a fair bit worse if the wind was behind them.

 

All things considered, it's a very good idea to approach "from downwind", ie. flying into the wind.

[gdotts]

HOT Kiowa pilot

 

[gdotts]

Air Calvary Operations PDF

 

Here is an Air Cavalry Opreations pdf with how to approach recon, bomb damage assessments, forward air controller, marking targets, action taking on receiving enemy fire, low level flight and much much more!!

 

https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/763193.pdf

[Coota0]

Good read....

“While the assault guys were very good at what they do their flight profiles tended to be more straight-line flying with an emphasis on formation flight and working to hit their ‘time on target’ with great precision. In contrast, scout pilots flew between and below treetop-level, darted between buildings, and routinely passed under bridges and power lines.

 

Having moved from Kiowas to Blackhawks I will verify this.

 

” However, Adam soon learned to “embrace that control sensitivity, and often flew with all of the force trim, which is a mechanical tightening of the controls in the cockpit, whereas SCAS is an electronically controlled system that dampens the control inputs removed from the flight controls.

This quote confuses me I knew almost no one that ever flew with the force trim on, if they did it was for cross county, straight and level stuff. I was taught in flight school not to use force trim. The SCAS didn't dampen the inputs so much as damped out external inputs (wind for instance) Force trim tries to hold the controls in a particular position. When I was in flight school we were taught that the only time you turned on the force trim was on the ground ( I was surprised to learn that I could not turn it off in the -60).

 

Correct me if I am wrong or add to...

One tactic I have gathered so far is Kiowa OH-58D aero scout is a two pronged flight style tactic, where one ship acts as a lead the other as a trail.

Equipped with 4 radios all on different frequencies:

1- Comms (internal frequency) between lead and trail flight and HQ

2- Comms between an air assault flight flying cover for you.

3- Comms with ground troops.

4- Misc. air in the area.

Mission begins with lead and trail flying at specified heights on waypoints to target area to an "IP" (waypoint just before reaching target area) at which point start to fly nap of the earth. Start covering each other communicating back and fourth from cover to cover working your way toward target area useing "pop up to scan" with you mast ball for possible contacts. Communicate your contacts to trail-assault and command center for further instructions.

The Air Assault element it the troop carrying element not an escort. The Kiowa would be the escorting unit. In reality the KWs usually moved out ahead of the assault force to ensure that the LZ was clear and to provide overwatch as the assault element made their landing. KWs didn't have escort, they covered each other working in two ship elements. At times KWs would work with a -64 that would either take the place of the second Kiowa in the team or ride shotgun for a two ship team and receive fire direction from the scouts.

 

What is described in the paragraph above is a peer/near peer force on force/cold war scenario. GWOT uses different tactics to accomplish a different mission.

 

It's always best to be facing into the wind whilst hovering anyway and especially in a squirrely aircraft.

 

I imagine they'd have to deal with some pretty unpredictable turbulence at times when hiding behind and moving between cover. That would be made a fair bit worse if the wind was behind them.

 

All things considered, it's a very good idea to approach "from downwind", ie. flying into the wind.

 

The description of approaching downwind is correct.

Due to the power margins of the aircraft and the ease of losing tail rotor authority you were always cognizant of were the winds were and never did anything with the wind at your back.

 

Here is an Air Cavalry Opreations pdf with how to approach recon, bomb damage assessments, forward air controller, marking targets, action taking on receiving enemy fire, low level flight and much much more!!

 

https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/763193.pdf

 

 

Most of this is for a cold war (Europe scenario) Iraq and Afghanistan were a little different.

[gdotts]

Thank you Coota0 for your insight.

 

Looking to gather knowledge on Kiowa escort and scouting tactics. How different is the Iraq and Afghanistan theatre would you please expand on this? Would enjoy any info.

[Coota0]

Thank you Coota0 for your insight.

 

Looking to gather knowledge on Kiowa escort and scouting tactics. How different is the Iraq and Afghanistan theatre would you please expand on this? Would enjoy any info.

 

I apologize if I ramble..

 

A Force on Force/ near Peer or Peer environment (typically thought of as a Cold War environment, but the 1st Gulf War fits as well and the first few weeks of Iraqi Freedom are a bit of a hybrid) has a lines that are mostly fixed (FEBA) and the enemy wears a uniform and has uniform equipment. In contrast the Global War on Terror does not have fixed lines, the FOB is surrounded by the enemy and telling the bad people from the locals may be impossible until they start shooting at you.

 

With a Force on Force/ near Peer or Peer environment you know where the enemy IADs can hit you and where to suspect MANPADs, this allows you to fly in relative safety in rear areas and then bring the aircraft to NOE as you move toward the front. In the rear you are able to travel at cruising airspeed and a height of 200 AHO or less, then as you move in closer to the objective you reduce altitude to less than 80 feet AHO and slow further, as you move into the objective area you slow to a hover, using terrain features to hide. Each aircraft moves individually while the other provides overwatch. The aircrews can use their eyes, binoculars or the MMS depending on the threat. The scouts can then find and fix enemy elements, calling for fire to eliminate enemy reconnaissance or main elements and building an overall picture for the ground commander as to the disposition and positions of the enemy. The objectives follow doctrine much more closely. Reconnaissance assets move forward to perform zone or area reconnaissance over specific objectives. The same as true for screening or covering the main body and preventing the enemy from discovering your main force. Everything is done much slower.

 

In a COIN fight the battlefield is far more fluid. You maintain your airspeed, your altitude varies from a few feet above the ground to several hundred or a thousand feet AGL. The threat is small arms DShks, maybe a ZSU or ZPU (although both were sought out and destroyed) or maybe a MANPAD (but not many)meaning that speed at low level saves you because you are hard to track and altitude puts you out of range of many threats. There are hills and mountains, but due to their elevation hiding behind them to hover is difficult due to aircraft limitations. There are trees in places, but not like Europe of the US, the terrain is much flatter in many places and there are not trees to fight in (I think fighting in West Texas or Nebraska might be difficult in the same way.) Do to the lack of concealment (and heat and elevation) you have to keep moving. Missions are different too. Reconnaissance at times was zone reconnaissance of an area, mostly looking for anything out of the ordinary or hoping to catch the insurgents moving equipment or personnel, and checking routes for anything out of the ordinary that we could send ground troops to check out. We flew in support of ground force that were checking out something we found, in convoys and on their objectives. Troops in Contact (TIC) is different in a COIN environment. In a Force on Force/ near Peer or Peer environment you may call in artillery to support a ground unit or lase for an attack jet, in the COIN environment you still do these things, but provide support with your weapons as well and sometimes your weapons may be all that is available.

 

I think that's a pretty good overview. If you have specific questions I'll do my best to answer.

[gdotts]

Thank you Coota0! Nice post...you cleared it up just fine. I am Sooo looking forward to OH-58D Kiowa. Hopefully soon. :joystick::joystick: Working Huey on hovering and quick stops. I'll admit those quick stops rise up on me more than it should.