They attacked after dark, a dozen AH-64 Apaches coming in from the south. Flying with their lights off, the helicopters were invisible in the moonless night. To avoid radar detection, they came in fast and low - "nap of the earth" - less than 100 feet above the desert scrub, weaving through the shallow valleys and slipping over ridges, the pilots navigating by the green displays of their forward-looking infrared sensors.
The first hint of trouble came when the lead Apache detected the signal of an SA-8 surface-to-air missile system. The pilot took evasive action. Soon other helicopters were encountering threat radars. The aircrews began to put countermeasures into play. Things were heating up, and the attackers were still more than 60 miles from their target.
This was the beginning of a recent exercise on the Land and Electronic Combat Ranges in California by the Army's XVIII Airborne Corps and the 229th Aviation Group. Staged from the Naval Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, the mission was the first extended-range deep attack ever conducted in the U.S. Deep attack refers to operations in which helicopters attack far behind enemy lines. The purpose is to influence the "close fight" - the front line battle between troops and armor.
Ranging as deep as 200 kilometers behind the front, the deep attack force targets enemy assets en route to the close fight or operating in support of the front-line troops. The deep attack weapon of choice is the Apache helicopter. Designed exclusively for attack, it carries only a pilot and a copilot/gunner. It has a straight forward mission "We're going in there with the attack helicopters to destroy everything we can and then get out," says LTCOL Tony Crutchfield, NTC's Senior Aviation Trainer.
For long-range attack of point targets, the Apache carries up to 16 Hellfire missiles. Each is capable of destroying any tank or armored vehicle in the world at ranges up to 5 miles. The Apache's mid-range area-denial weapon is the 2.75-inch rocket (originally developed at China Lake in the 1940s). For close-in work, out to about 3,000 meters, a lethal 30-mm chain gun fires more than 10 rounds per second.
In the days prior to the deep attack, flatbed trucks from Fort Irwin hauled 150 vehicle hulks into Etcheron Valley on the Land Range. NTC military personnel worked with China Lake civilians to put the targets in place at Coles Flat and Darwin Wash. The hulks were arrayed to simulate an enemy convoy of long-range artillery pieces and support vehicles. Then specialists from NTC rigged the targets with laser and radio receivers as well as flash units and smoke dispensers. The target preparation work was done under the direction of MAJ Steve Baird, Chief of NTC's Live Fire Division.
Each Apache was equipped with a Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES), a device that is integrated with the helicopter's weapons suite. The MILES fires eye-safe laser pulses that are received by the sensors on the targets.
"It's like laser tag," said Baird. "If all the conditions for a missile shot are right when the fire command is given, the laser will activate the mechanisms on the target, and that sets off the smoke and flashing lights to indicate a kill."
The deep-attack mission consisted of two raids on successive nights. In the first attack, at Coles Flat, the Apaches flew directly to their target (nearly 80 miles from the takeoff point), attacked a convoy target, and returned successfully to base. On the second raid, the 229th group set up a forward arming and refueling point-a FARP-at the Electronic Combat Range. A force of 15 Apache helicopters attacked the Darwin Wash convoy but did not completely defeat their target. The Apaches returned to the FARP, took on fuel from two "Fat Cows"(CH-47 fuel carriers), picked up more ammunition, and then flew north to reattack their targets.
During both raids the Apaches ran up against threat systems-real and simulated.
The threat warning signals that the inbound Apaches had detected were genuine-the product of air-defense-system emitters on the ECR. Additional live threat emitters were set up at the Coles Flat and Darwin Wash target sites. "The attacking helicopters receive a signal from a live threat radar system and have to determine the best way to respond," said Crutchfield. "But other threats are simulated. They aren't physically on the ground, but they are marked on maps and covered in the pre-mission briefing. It's the aircrew's responsibility to respond to these threats as well. Do they stop? Do they engage? Do they go around? Do they just keep flying?"
Determining how well the aircrews responded was the responsibility of the Eagle Team, a 50-person observer/controller unit led by Crutchfield. "We are the guys who control the battlefield and the battlefield effects," said Crutchfield. "We can make it as hard or as easy as we want." The Eagle Team worked from the Operations Building at the ECR and also roamed the battlefield in UH-60 and OH-58 helicopters. Every Apache in the exercise was fitted with a tracking device, so the Team could see precisely where the players were in real time and maintain the big picture. This was both to ensure safety-a primary role of the Eagle Team-and to keep a critical eye on the actions of the attackers.
If a pilot or gunner's response was inadequate-missing a target, flying too high, not responding quickly enough-the Eagle Team could electronically "kill" that aircraft for the remainder of the exercise. "We used that capability to make certain points," said Crutchfield.
There is a certain danger in flying a helicopter fast and low at night through unfamiliar territory with all the lights out. It is, however, a necessary risk. "Stealth is our best method of survival," says Crutchfield. An Apache pilot himself and a combat veteran of Desert Storm, Crutchfield recalls a captured Iraqi soldier talking about Apache night attacks. "He said 'We could never see you. We could barely hear you. You were attacking us from 3 or 4 miles away, at night. All of a sudden a tank blows up.'"
In addition to the experience gained during the exercise, the aircrews benefit from the After Action Review. "The AAR is the most important part of the operation," said Crutchfield. "We get everyone in a room and go through the whole battle. We play back communications and analyze the detailed information from the tracking systems. We tell them what they did good, and what they did bad," Crutchfield continued. "If there were any problems-and there are always problems-we get them to figure out what happened, why it happened, and then apply fixes."
Conducting a major military exercise safely and effectively requires a lot of people, planning, and preparation. When two services and two ranges are involved, it also calls for a high degree of cooperation. Among the NAVAIR Weapons Division contributions to the success of the deep attack exercise were radar operations, air control, microwave links, IR camera and GPS support, communications, computing, recording, crash-crews, and range support.
"These people were wonderful to work with," said Baird. He singled out test managers Laura Albert and Debbie Vallelunga for special praise, and also noted the excellent support provided by Butch Burfeindt and his crew from the Etcheron Valley Range, noting "they made my life so much easier!"
In the upcoming months, the Airborne Corps will be back at the Land Range to conduct a similar deep-attack mission in connection with Millennium Challenge 2002. Once again, the Apache crews will feel the adrenaline rush that comes with a night attack against an armed threat. And once again, they will discipline themselves to react as they have been trained, fly to their targets, and destroy them.
"The bottom line is that it works," says Crutchfield. "The units keep getting better."
