Maybe Amy Klobuchar Should Armor Them

Remember when the Democrats held up “unarmored Humvees” as the greatest crime ever committed against US troops?

It all seems so long ago, now:

Afghanistan is a country the size of Texas, with only a handful of major roads. So when the U.S. military wants to haul gear, supply isolated outposts, reposition forces, or evacuate wounded troops, the first, best and sometimes only option is to do so by helicopter.

Which means that the demand for helos at most U.S. bases far outstrips the supply. And the helicopters that do fly operate under unforgiving and often dangerous conditions, as we saw in Monday’s twin copter calamities, which killed 14 Americans. In short, helicopters are the irreplaceable connective tissue of the Afghanistan war effort — and its potential Achilles’ heel. “It’s our strategic weak point,” a defense official told Danger Room.

Apparently we don’t have nearly enough of them:

For years, commanders have complained that helicopters were the one thing they couldn’t get enough of, and coalition forces in Afghanistan have often had to rely on outsourcing to fill in the gaps. “We definitely don’t have enough helicopters,” British Foreign Office Minister Lord Maloch Brown recently said, before issuing a quick “clarification.”…

Most of what I know about helicopters I learned from reading Colonel Charlie Beckwith’s book about the formation of “Delta Force” and its role in the Desert One raid.  And it put me off of wanting to ever fly in a helicopter.  The main point; helicopters are incredibly fragile, and desert sand and dust makes thingsmuch, much worse.

…Even if more military helicopters are sent to Afghanistan, there’s a much bigger issue: Operating rotary aircraft in Afghanistan can be extremely difficult.

 

Earlier this year, Popular Mechanics reporter Joe Pappalardo spent some time with the wrench-turners who keep the helicopters flying in Afghanistan. “Afghanistan,” he concluded, “is hell on helicopters.” Here’s a list of just a few of the things he noted that can go wrong: Temperature extremes that destroy seals and gaskets; “high/hot” flying conditions that reduce engine performance; dust and sand that ruin rotor blades and clog up hydraulics.

Just saying, Mr. President – whenever you get around to deciding what you’re going to do about Afghanistan…

UPDATE:  Welcome, Instapundit Readers!  It’s been a while!  Glad I finished getting the place cleaned up for ya!

6 thoughts on “Maybe Amy Klobuchar Should Armor Them

  1. I seem to remember that failure to supply up-armored Humvees meant Bush had personally murdered every American who died over there.

    No word on whether Obama’s failures make his hands as bloody.

    As for helos – Michael Yon has outstanding photos, scroll down to “The Kopp-Etchells Effect.” Hit his tip jar, if you can.

    http://www.michaelyon-online.com/

  2. We have plenty of helicopters in the US military. The issue is specific to Afghanistan because not all helicopters are the same.

    Odds are that if you see a picture or video of a chopper in A-stan you are looking at a CH-47 Chinook, distinctive because of it’s two sets of rotors. The reason for this is because of the altitude of the mountain peaks. Most choppers, like the Blackhawk, have issues flying at extreme altitudes. Their rotors can’t provide enough lift in the thin air that high up. So the dual rotors of the Chinook come in quite handy.

    Remember when we ‘let Bin Laden go’ at Tora Bora? Truth is we didn’t have nearly enough Chinooks to move the available troops into the high mountains around Tora Bora.

    Since there is a limited number of Chinooks in the US inventory, it makes sense to raise the ‘shortage’ as a reason for not sending additional US troops to A-stan. It’s one of those arguments that makes sense on the face of it, which is enough to convince the average American watching the nightly news.

  3. “We have plenty of helicopters in the US military. ”

    The quote that Mitch uses “We definitely don’t have enough helicopters,” is from a BRITISH foreign officer.

  4. Linked on Instapundit? When was the last time that happened, Mitch? The server’s holding up, though.

  5. Pingback: Shot in the Dark » Blog Archive » Bifecta of Cool

  6. Nerd,

    The last one I remember was during the 9/11 Commission hearings. Maybe 2005? It’s been a while.

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