There were two major incidents that changed how Canadian aviation tactics are used in war, first due to the terrorist attacks on 9/11, and secondly as a result of the Afghan war that followed.
Weyburn Rotary Club members heard these points made in a presentation by a former Armed Forces helicopter pilot, John King, a nephew of Weyburn club member Bob King, during their Zoom virtual meeting on Thursday.
Prior to that fateful day in 2001 when two hijacked airliners took down the World Trade Center towers in New York City, and another crashed into the Pentagon, helicopters supported the army as a primary task, and still used tactics developed in the Viet Nam War.
“When 9/11 happened, that day we pretty much realized life in the military was going to change, and change significantly,” said King.
The changes came about as the United States, Canada and other countries were sent to Afghanistan to root out the terrorist organization, Al-Qaida, and the Taliban, which controlled some 60 per cent of the southern part of that country.
Currently, King works with Canadian helicopters that support the Northern Warning System that is part of the North American Air Defence based in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon.
The Canadian Armed Forces set up an air field at Kandahar, housing around 20,000 military personnel there, including those involved with tactical aviation. At first, the forces there used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for reconnaissance, but it became evident the forces there needed better air support, said King.
As there was more movement of troops and supplies in the fight against the Taliban, there was a need for protection from the air, and Chinook and Griffon helicopters were brought in around 2006-07 as part of the aviation battalion based in Kandahar.
This was made possible in part through a friendship between Canada’s military head, Gen. Rick Hillier, and the head of the U.S. military, said King.
As the Chinook was too vulnerable on its own as a troop transport, the Griffon helicopter was brought in to provide strength in the air, and this was supplied with high-powered optical scopes, and laser-guided weapons that could lay down some serious fire power.
An electro-optical infrared system, called the WESCAM, “changed things dramatically” as it could classify enemy vehicles from 15 nautical miles away, “and at three kilometres out I could tell if you shaved or not on the day I recorded you,” said King, noting this was connected with a high-definition camera outfitted with a telephoto lens, along with a sighting scope that was like a high-powered rifle scope.
For fire power, they had a Dillon gun that could fire 3,000 rounds a minute, or 50 rounds a second, with .308-calibre bullets, as well as a new British .50-calibre gun that can shoot about 1,200-1,300 rounds a minutes.
This latter gun didn’t come in until after King’s tour of duty in Afghanistan, he added, “and due to the rules of engagement, I was fine with that.” His tour in Afghanistan was from October 2009 to August 2010.
Among the capabilities of the optical equipment, noted King, was the ability to spot roadside bombs, called IEDs or improvised explosive devices, that had killed and maimed many soldiers in Afghanistan. He said there were occasions when these deadly devices were spotted, and they were able to send in engineers to deactivate them and spare some people’s lives and bodies.
Their capability to spot these devices were called into action after a deadly incident that saw six Canadians killed, including a reporter. The optical infrared devices were also able to spot the people planting the IEDs, even at night, and in one incident, they were able to stop two of the four terrorists who had killed 30 Canadians.
During his tour of duty there, the use of the helicopters in close combat situations was duly noted by the forces on the ground, as they could come in and extract soldiers or help out soldiers who were pinned down by Taliban fighters.
“We developed way of getting guys who were down in the trench lines,” he said, adding they were also able to find suitable landing spots when transporting soldiers, using the laser-infrared equipment.
“Instead of landing in a field, we were landing ground troops within a meter of where the troops wanted to go, and as the helicopter left, we could designate breaching points,” said King.
“We became very much the best buddy in a fire fight. They were happy to see a Griffon show up,” he added.
The helicopters also performed the function of “angel flights”, which was to retrieve a soldier’s body who had been killed in action in the field. Due to the need to evacuate wounded soldiers, he said, getting the dead out was not a high priority for a medivac, so they would fly in and pick up the soldiers as an “angel flight”, so the soldiers could be returned to Canada for burial.
The Chinooks did so well there, said King, that Canada is getting a newer, better version, called the Chinook F-plus, which will include components from previous craft and give Canada the same Chinooks used by U.S. Special Forces.
As a result of how well the helicopters did in Afghanistan, helicopters are now becoming the key to tactical aviation, especially in close combat situations, he added.
