HELICOPTER UNITS
In Gunship, we regularly fly around with a wingman or two, but rarely give any thought to any higher formation.
None of this will effect your mission building, but an understanding of how units are organised can help add some colour to your mission briefings. This information is not hot off the press; in fact most of comes from declassified Field Manuals that are 10 or more years old......... But that's the era when most of Gunship takes place after all.
Apache Units
Most AH-64 Apaches serve in the Attack Helicopter Battalions (ATKHB) of Divisional Aviation Brigades attached to Armoured, Mech Infantry or Air Assault Divisions. There as usually two ATKHBs attached per Division.
Each Battalion contains 24 Apaches formed into three Attack Companies (with 8 Apaches per company) plus a Headquarters Company and an Aviation Unit Maintenance Company.
The Attack company consists of a Scout Platoon of 3 Apaches and an Attack Platoon of 5. This 3-5 division is a purely administrative one and in a combat environment, the Company commander will task organise the 8 Apaches to suit individual mission requirements.
Gunship caters for this nicely by providing the Scout option in the Arming Screen.
Light Divisions (Airborne, Airmobile, Light Infantry etc) are normally allocated only one ATKHB and this is equipped with either OH-58Ds or AH-1s. Note that in all cases, the ATKHBs are 'pure'; aircraft types are not mixed. The exception to this rule was the Regimental Aviation Squadron of an Armored Cavalry Regiment which had 2 Attack Troops each of 8 AH-64s and 3 Scout Troops each of 8 OH-58Ds.
Although the TOE fixes a Company allocation of 8 aircraft, a 75% availability rate is always assumed and operations are based on 6 operational machines. Apaches will always use teams of at least 2, using the leader/wingman principle. Teams of 3 or 4 are also used, but aircraft are never ever flown singly. A convenient deployment is 2 teams of 2, each led by a platoon leader, with a third pair led by the Company CO. The aircraft can be configured either Light (scout) or Heavy (attack) with the mix depending upon the mission requirements.
Aeroscouts
Surely Aeroscouts are light Helos like the OH-58D?.............. Well, not always.
When Apaches were first deployed to the Gulf (the 1st one) most were organised as mixed units with OH-58s flying in the Aeroscout role. However, the OH-58 was soon sidelined, as the Apache's superior all weather, target acquisition system allowed them to both fly and see where the OH-58s couldn't. In fact some losses resulted when the OH-58s tried to keep up. Despite initial reluctance amongst commanders, who regarded the relegation of an expensive attack helicopter to a mere scouting role as a waste of assets, the Apache proved it had a true multi-role capability. Subsequently, the Heavy Attack Battalions were re-organised as Apache only units.
OH-58 Units
OH-58Ds are not only utilised in the attack role in Light ATKHBs, but also serve in the Air Cavalry Troops (ACT), in the following formations:
| Regimental Aviation Squadron of an Armoured Cavalry Regiment | 3 ACTs each of 8 OH-58D |
| Divisional Cavalry Squadron of a Light or Heavy Division | 2 ACTs each of 8 OH-58D |
| Air Cavalry Squadron | 4 ACTs each of 8 OH-58D |
An individual Air Cavalry Troop can also be attached at Brigade, Divn or Corps level. Each Air Cavalry Troop (or Company) is organised exactly like the Attack Companies with a similar Light/Heavy mix to suit the assigned mission. On a personal note, I think that the OH-58D is sadly neglected and needs to available as a fully equipped alternative to the Apache. Flying in a lightly armed and armoured helicopter can be a real challenge. In fact Air Cavalry Troop OH-58Ds, with their close co-operation and dependence upon ground recon forces would be very fertile ground for future Gunship development.
Here's a thought!..........(hard core Tiger fans had better skip this bit)...........Gunship has an internal limit of 145 platoons, making expansion and modification difficult. It's always been the case that to include a new platoon, an existing one had to be sacrificed. The sacrificial lambs have always been rear echelon types, but these are now getting rather thin on the ground. A radical approach would be to strip out all the German and UK elements. This would free up 17 ground platoons, 3 flyable slots and an aircraft, plus the 2 Tiger slots. This could be offered as an AirCavalry.exe with FARPs, alternate scout sections (2 x HMMWV, 2 x M3A1), flyable OH-58s in 2's and 3's and more room for AH-1s. Loads of room for expansion and still retaining all the rear echelon stuff. This would not be permanent as the original exe could still be used when German or UK forces were required.
I do like flying in the Tiger, but if I was really pushed to decide between the Tiger and the OH-58D?
Soviet Helicopter Units
Information on Soviet combat helicopter units has been more difficult to find and any information players can share would be appreciated.
Army or Corps level formations were assigned a Combat Helicopter Regiment of 40 Attack and 20 Transport helicopters. These were organised into 2 Attack and 1 Lift Squadron, each of 20. At the Divisional level, an Assault Squadron of 18 helicopters was routinely attached, although these may have been armed Mi-8 transports. During the Afghan campaign, Mi-24 Hinds were usually organised into independent Attack Helicopter Squadrons of 18 each and were attached as required. There were also reports of exercises being carried out, where individual Attack Helicopter Flights (of 6) were attached to Motorised Rifle Battalions in a scout/support role.
I guess that 3 platoons of 6, per company/squadron would be close enough.
Airmobile Assault
Believe me, I've tried very hard to make this work, but airmobile infantry is close to useless. With no separate command lines, the only parameters that can be changed here are the commands for the helos carrying the troops. Unfortunately, once on the ground, airmobile troops show a marked reluctance to open fire.
It all started out as a simple mission; a UH-60 airborne assault on a bunch of undefended tents. After trying all the target priorities in various combinations with 'Search and Destroy' and 'Engage', the total damage was one tent. Thinking that maybe tents weren't worthy targets, I added a Red rifle squad and watched while four Red infantry wiped out the entire platoon (both units had the same skill level). The airmobile platoon did use their M16s, but heavier weapons were never brought into play. When I replaced the airmobile squads with basic rifle squads, the result was as expected; a brisk and one sided firefight.
I think the problem lies with the helo commands. You need to use the LZ command to land the helos and deploy the troops, but the LZ command states that the unit will '..fly to the WP avoiding combat and drop troops..' I think the 'avoid combat' instruction is then carried over to the ground force. There is more on this in the Helo Orders section.
But, they will always shoot at you. They seem to have no hesitation in using shoulder launched SAMs .