Thread 64475587

why do american SOF helicopters keep getting shot down? the overwhelming majority of SOF members deaths in the past 30 years have been because of helicopter shootdowns

>>64475587 (OP)
helicopters are the most dangerous vehicle to be in on any battlefield.

You are not getting out in any other transport

NEVER and i mean NEVER get in a helicopter

>>64475587 (OP)
I'm a 15U. Helicopters are sketchy as fuck.

>>64475587 (OP)
It's not an american thing, it's a helicopter thing. Helicopters are bloodthirsty death machines who want to murder everyone embarked on them at all times

>>64475957
>It's not an american thing, it's a helicopter thing.
i know, it happens to americans more often simply because they have so many more of them but you'd think that by this point they'd come up with tactics and procedures to minimize it to the point that you don't have to read about this or that helicopter full of SOF troops getting shot down every once in a while
of the recent heli shootdowns i've read about, more often than not it's because they want to insert as fast as possible while throwing caution to the wind

>>64475587 (OP)
because helicopters are easy to shoot down

>>64475618
Lmao wtf happened here? KA-52 shooting their own during training exercise?

>>64476012
Pilot saw civilian journalists and knew what he was obliged to do as a Russian soldier.

>>64475970
They have come up with tactics and procedures to minimize it. That's why you read about single helis going down every few years instead of one per day like the Vietnam War.

>>64476012
iirc it was a training setup, with the targets a few clicks down that same clearing. this is why american CAS is trained to strike perpendicular to friendlies rather than parallel with them, to avoid misidentifying your troops as the targets.

>>64476800
>They have come up with tactics and procedures to minimize it.
clearly it isn't good enough

helicopters are big, loud, fly low and slow. they're easy to shoot. 4 helicopters were shot down during gothic serpent, many others were damaged.

>>64479350
Look at that chad kid
Is there a "chad" for females
It's not Stacey

>>64475587 (OP)
Helos are vulnerable to any ground fire. They learned this in Vietnam, unless you 100% control the area leading up to and around the LZ the risk of someone shooting something at you is non-zero. Never underestimate your enemy who as access to RPGs. Complacency kills.

>>64479350
>4 helicopters were shot down during gothic serpent
this is kind of my point
anons ITT are saying "they learned in vietnam", well, gothic serpent happened 20 years after vietnam and they still didn't learn their lesson
who in the living hell thought it was a good idea to slowly fly blackhawks at low altitude across a city full of enemy combatants?

>>64475587 (OP)
Helicopters are gigantic sitting ducks. The only reason we're not seeing more ah64s getting shot down is because they have the ability to engage their targets from many miles away. Blackhawks and chinooks are extremely vulnerable during the descent, which they have to do to unload troops and gear. To really protect a chopper from ground fire is equipping it with airforce1-tier counter measures, and even that wouldn't help much against some dude with a manpad hiding in a bush 100yd from the LZ.

Couldn't they equip SOF with those gay jetpacks with iron man repulsors for the descent, then the choppers can stay at safe height and the SOF dudes can do powered insertion while being less of a helpless target than on a parachute or rope

>>64480269
>anons ITT are saying "they learned in vietnam", well, gothic serpent happened 20 years after vietnam and they still didn't learn their lesson
It is impossible to 'learn your lessons' to such an extent that it simply stops happening. Militaries 'learned their lesson' and issued their soldiers helmets but they still die to headwounds anyways. risk is inherent in combat.

>>64479112
You're an idiot

>>64480997
No, the whole point of the helicopter is that it's "safer" while flying in absurdly dangerous low profiles. If the helicopter is not obscured to defenses by terrain it's even more of a target than it normally is and you might as well use a plane.

Helicopters serve as an important dramatical entrance moment, since they can offer players a "view of the map" while at the same time going over the mission briefing via audio - as the player is "stuck" in the helicopter, they can focus more on the objectives and the view before them. Narratively, it can also serve as a transition of environment or area.

Once the ride is where it needs to be, the helicopter serves no further point and can be shot down as this isolates the player, removes any expectations of external support (NPCs) and shifts the gameplay focus from easy mobility or backup to intense, self-reliant combat. It heightens tension (there is no way back), changes pacing, and serves as the de facto "start" of the mission.

>>64475587 (OP)
Shootdowns or crashes?

>>64481021
Okay yeah I was thinking small arms Mogagishu style, but a proper manpad would still fuck it.

Maybe replace the chopper with a bigass drone that carries one or two sof guys, send a swarm of 'em to deliver the fireteam

I mean we're gonna end up just sending drones eventually for the whole mission, gonna have to face it sooner or later

>>64475587 (OP)
They tend to carry the teams that were involved in fake ops designed as the pr stunt of gay nigger presidents and have to be eventually put down in order to maintain secrecy