Miracle convertible and massive land. What kind of war will have in a few years
If she works in practice, this doctrine will be able to solve one of the most serious problems of the army on the battlefield: how to break through the enemy's rigid defense. Both Russia and Ukraine are difficult to cope with this task during the war, and although many Western soldiers claim that the reason is that they do it wrong, at least it seems that traditional blitz cliga -style attacks have become less effective in era of drones and "cautious tanks".
From the V-280, which takes off and sits like a helicopter, but flies like a plane thanks to its rotary rotors, the army can simply bypass the defense-and plant thousands of soldiers for hundreds of miles over one night. Major General Sylvia Brett-Commander of the 101st Airborne Division. It was once a unit of paratroopers and now a specialized helicopter landing for the US Army. General revealed a new doctrine at the industry event in Washington early this month.
"Today, we cannot spend large-scale long distance airborne air," says Sylvia, "because the platforms that are at the disposal of the 101st Division are not enough for us to do so in one period of darkness. " The 101st Airborne Division has approximately 50 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and 30 heavy CH-47 chinok helicopters. UH-60 can cross a 300 miles. CH-47 can turn a platoon out of 40 people almost the same distance.
But both helicopters are slow, their cruising speed does not exceed 180 miles per hour. This strongly affects the capabilities of the 101st Airborne Division. In one of the recent military Games, the division overturned one of its three brigades - about 3,000 servicemen - more than 500 miles. But to simulate the operation, almost a thousand supporters of support were required to organize the refueling points, so it took three nights. Sylvia wants to achieve more.
She wants to cross the brigade to the same distance, but in one night. And as soon as the V-280 begins, it should be possible. Sylvia said he was "incredibly optimistic. " In the end, the V-280 convertible can carry soldiers by almost a thousand miles at a cruising speed exceeding 300 miles per hour. The 101st Army is about to replace all of its UH-60 by V-280. According to Sylvia, if today the 101st division has only 30, or so, helicopters that qualify as "heavy", then the V-280 will be more.
The main idea is that each V-280 from the future arsenal of the Division can make at least two circular flights per night to transport a whole team. There is another key advantage V-280. Completely loaded ordinary helicopters, as a rule, cannot fly very high. They are constantly within the reach of even light anti -aircraft missiles from the shoulder, and in some cases they were beaten by drones: for this reason, the helicopters usually avoid approaching the front line in Ukraine.
Chinooks helicopters can rise high enough to be out of reach of many rockets, but only at the cost of reducing their load. However, the V-280, flying in the aircraft mode, will be able to rise much higher. He will still not be able to fly safely next to heavy truckers, but the lung types are not afraid of him. In order to take advantage of the new convertible body, the assault division reviews its logistics plans.
If the 101st Division entered the war today, it would try to capture the hostile airfield and use it as the main base for the offensive in the depths of hostile lines. But this base would be vulnerable to hostile counterattack. Therefore, Sylvia staff are developing new schemes that make it possible to distribute support for more small points of refueling, which will be more difficult to detect the enemy.
Flying further and faster with more servicemen, compared to UH-60, V-280 can relieve part of the load from dispersed support troops. If the 101st Airborne Division is able to combine doctrine and training equipment, it should be able to transfer thousands of soldiers into hundreds of miles between sunset and dawn, combining mass, mobility and suddenness in such a way as to remove from the equilibrium of the enemy.
The US Army Tank Brigades can attack the near flank at the same time when the 101st Division troops are attacked from the far flank. This should help the army to solve the dilemma, which is now facing Ukrainian troops. Without powerful air assault potential, Ukrainians have only one way to break through Russian defense: the fronting ground attack. But mines, artillery and all -air, constantly present drones, made these storms almost suicide.
No wonder Ukrainian commanders measure their greatest success in the battlefield in kilometers. And this is a rarity. Most of the battles in the 32-month large-scale war of Russia against Ukraine have a "protracted" and "positional" character. That is, the front line is practically not shifting. The side that loses fewer troops and equipment wins. The US Army has not been fighting for many decades - and has no desire to fight. She desires mobility.