Air Cavalry
Fly some of the most advanced helicopters in the world, including the UH-60 Black Hawk, UH-1 Iroquois,
OH-6 Cayuse, AH-64 Apache, AH-1Z Cobra and the Russian Mi-8 Hip in various regional environments, building on your flying skills and experience.
Join a new Carrier Operations on USS Nimitz or Admiral Kuznetsov!
Air Cavalry offers next-gen console quality graphics, ultimate physics of aircrafts and weapons.
Complete Game Center milestones and see your progress against others.
Use your weapon systems to practice engaging buildings and moving vehicles.
- 8 aircraft (more in developement)
- Carrier Operations on USS Nimitz CVN 68
- Apache front (gunners) and back seat (pilot) positions
- Multiple regional environments
- Refuel and rearm aircraft to continue flights
- Destroyable buildings
- Achievements via Game Center
- Leaderboards
- Realistic 3D virtual cockpit details
- Realistic weapon management and targeting systems
- Realistic weapon system physics engine
- And much more in development
The continuing development of our advanced helicopter flight simulator will bring new aircraft and missions, so check back often!
*** check our other simulators ***
- Apache SIM
- Black Shark HD
- Black Hawk 3D
We always look forward to hearing the views of our customers. You can contact us directly using:
- email ()
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我是大大俠
曹操之野望From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"airmobile" redirects here. It is not to be confused with  or .
awarded by the , a combination of
and the image of a
Air assault is the movement of ground-based military forces by
(VTOL) aircraft—such as the —to seize and hold key terrain which has not been fully secured, and to directly engage enemy forces. In addition to regular
training, air-assault units usually receive training in
and , and their equipment is sometimes designed or field-modified to allow better transportation within aircraft.
The US Army field manual FM 1-02 (FM 101-5-1) describes an "air assault operation" as an operation in which assault forces (combat, combat service, and combat service support), using the firepower, mobility, and total integration of helicopter assets, maneuver on the battlefield under the control of the ground or air maneuver commander to engage and destroy enemy forces or to seize and hold key terrain.
Due to the transport load restrictions of helicopters, air assault forces are usually , though some armored fighting vehicles, like the Russian
are designed to fit most , which enable assaulting forces to combine air mobility with a certain degree of ground mechanization. Invariably the assaulting troops are highly dependent on
provided by the
escorting the VTOL.
Air assault should not be confused with air attack, , or air raid, which all refer to attack using solely aircraft (for example , , etc.). Moreover, air assault should not be confused with an , which occurs when , and their weapons and supplies, are
from , often as part of a
operation.
preparing to abseil down from a Royal Marines
(NAS), used in utility support of . They can also act as attack helicopters with the addition of two pods of four TOW wire-guided anti-tank missiles.
Air assault and air mobility are related concepts. However, air assault is distinctly a combat insertion rather than transportation to an area in the vicinity of combat. "Air assault operations are not merely movements of soldiers, weapons, and materiel by Army aviation units and must not be construed as such."
Air assault units can
using helicopters not only in transport but also as ,
helicopters and resupply missions. Airmobile artillery is often assigned to air assault deployments. Units vary in size, but are typically - or -sized units.
Airmobile units are designed and trained for air insertion and vertical envelopment ("a maneuver in which troops, either air-dropped or air-landed, attack the rear and flanks of a force, in effect cutting off or encircling the force".), air resupply, and if necessary air extraction.
One specific type of air assault unit is the US Army air cavalry. It differs from regular air assault units only in fulfilling a traditional cavalry
and short raids role. Britain's
was formed in 1999 following an amalgamation of elements of
(5 Airborne Brigade) and , bringing together the agility and reach of airborne forces with the potency of the attack helicopter. Similarly, the US
was originally classed as airborne, then airmobile and now air assault.
Air mobility has been a key concept in offensive operations since the 1930s. Initial approaches to air mobility focused on airborne and glider-borne troops. During World War II many assaults were done by . Following the war faster aircraft led to the abandonment of the flimsy wooden gliders with the then new helicopters taking their place. Four
helicopters saw limited service in the
theatre with the
observed the atomic bomb tests at
and instantly recognized that atomic bombs could render amphibious landings difficult because of the dense concentrations of troops, ships and material at beachheads. During this time, The , , convened a special board known as the . This board recommended that the USMC develop transport helicopters in order to allow a diffused attack on enemy shores. It also recommended that the USMC form an experimental helicopter squadron. was commissioned in 1947 with
. In 1948 the Marine Corps Schools came out with Amphibious Operations—Employment of Helicopters (Tentative), or Phib-31, which was the first manual for helicopter airmobile operations. The Marines used the term
instead of air mobility or air assault. HMX-1 performed its first vertical envelopment from the deck of an aircraft carrier in an exercise in 1949.
American forces later used helicopters for support and transport to great effect during the
showing that the helicopter could be a versatile and powerful military tool.
The first helicopter airlift and helicopter sling load mission was conducted on September 13, 1951 during the . "Operation Windmill I" was conducted by the
in support of a battalion clearing the enemy from a series of ridges around an extinct volcano called "The Punchbowl." In total seven
marine helicopters made 28 flights that delivered 18,848 pounds of supplies and evacuated 74 seriously wounded men.
On November 5, 1956 the '
performed the world's first combat helicopter insertion with air assault during an amphibious landing as part of , in , . 650 marines and 23 tons of equipment were flown in ten
of 845 Naval Air Squadron from the deck of the , and six each Whirlwinds and
off 's embarked Joint Experimental Helicopter Unit (JEHU) ().
The plan was to use the helicopters to drop No. 45 Commando at Raswa, to the south of Port Said, in order to secure two vital bridges. Last-minute concerns about their vulnerability to ground fire meant that they were replaced in this role by French paratroops who conducted a daring low-level drop on 5 November, securing one of the two bridges intact. Instead No. 45 Commando was landed the following day, disembarking close to the seafront in the aftermath of the seaborne landing that had secured the area. This first-ever operational use of helicopters to land troops during an amphibious assault proved successful. With their carriers lying nine miles offshore, the marines were landed far more quickly than could have been achieved using landing craft, and without the need to get their boots wet. However ... they landed the marines in much the same place that old style landing craft would have put them."
In 1956, the United States Marine Corps executed the first Division-strength exercise of vertical envelopment when the 1st Marine Division was helicopter-lifted from converted WWII jeep carriers to landing sites at Camp Pendleton, CA, U.S. Marine Corps Base. One of the ships utilized for this exercise was the USS Thetis Bay. This exercise was the culmination of the Marines' developing strategy of vertical envelopment rather than amphibious assaults on heavily defended beaches. The maneuvers were well-covered by the media of the time, including LIFE Magazine. The Marine Corps subsequently adopted this method as standard operating procedure after proving that helicopters could be used to transport very large numbers of troops and large amounts of supplies in a timely fashion.[]
was a 1957 NATO naval exercise held in the Mediterranean Sea that involved the first units of the
to participate in a helicopter-borne vertical envelopment operation during an overseas deployment.
The use of armed helicopters coupled with helicopter transport during the
to drop troops into enemy territory gave birth to the tactics of airmobile warfare that continues today.
The machines of the
carried out a considerable number of missions against Algerian insurgents between 1955, when the Groupe d’Hélicoptères No.2 (GH 2) was created, and 1962 when the French empire in Algeria finally came to an end. GH 2 was based at Sétif – A?n Arnat in the east of the country, and it was equipped primarily with machines to undertake transport missions, though the , would soon join the unit owing to concerns about the lack of machines which could both defend themselves and carry out offensive missions against the insurgents. Acquiring these machines lay in the hands of the licensee
given France’s urgent need to have them on account of the circumstances. Usually, the H-21 could carry up to 18 troops, yet local operating (as well as climatic) conditions decreed that the French army examples could carry only up to around 12 troops each. In two years, GH 2 received the vast majority of the H-21s acquired by ALAT, which consisted of five squadrons by the end of 1958. A sixth squadron from the French naval air arm, the Aéronautique navale, had operated with GH 2 for little more than a year.
From 1955 to 1962, GH 2 took part in the major battles, which occurred near the frontier between Algeria and Tunisia, including the battle of Souk-Ahras in April 1958. The helicopters, including types such as the H-21, the Alouette II, the
H-19 and , together aggregated over 190,000 flying hours in Algeria (over 87,000 for the H-21 alone) and helped to evacuate over 20,000 French combatants from the combat area, including nearly 2,200 at night. By the time the war in Algeria had ended, eight officers and 23 non-commissioned officers from ALAT had died in the course of their duties.
Extraction of troops after an airmobile assault during the Vietnam War.
helicopter transports arrived in Vietnam on 11 December 1961. Air assault operations using
(ARVN) troops began 12 days later in . These were very successful at first but the
(VC) began developing counter helicopter techniques, and at the
in January 1963, 13 of 15 helicopters were hit and four shot down. The Army began adding machine guns and rockets to their smaller helicopters and developed the first purpose built
with the .
U.S. Marine helicopter squadrons began four-month rotations through Vietnam as part of Operation SHUFLY on 15 April 1962. Six days later, they performed the first helicopter assault using U.S. Marine helicopters and ARVN troops. After April 1963, as losses began to mount, U.S. Army UH-1 Huey gunships escorted the Marine transports. The VC again used effective counter landing techniques and in Operation Sure Wind 202 on 27 April 1964, 17 of 21 helicopters were hit and three shot down.
made a night helicopter assault in the Elephant Valley south of
on 12 August 1965 shortly after Marine ground troops arrived in country. On 17 August 1965 in
landed in three helicopter landing zones (LZs) west of the 1st VC Regiment in the Van Tuong village complex, 12 miles (19 km) south of Chu Lai, while the
used seaborne landing craft on the beaches to the east. The transport helicopters were 24
from HMM-361 and
escorted by Marine and Army Hueys. VC losses were 614 killed, Marine losses were 45 KIA and 203 WIA.
The need for a new type of unit became apparent to the Tactical Mobility Requirements Board (normally referred to as the ) of the
in 1962. The Board met the bulk of the military hierarchy were focused primary on the Soviet threat to Western Europe, primarily perceived as requiring heavy, conventional units. The creation of new, light airmobile units could only occur at the expense of heavier units. At the same time, the incoming Kennedy administration was placing a much greater emphasis on the need to fight 'small wars', or counter-insurgencies, and was strongly supportive of officers such as
who were embracing new technologies. The Board concluded that a new form of unit would be required, and commissioned tests – but justified these at the time on the need to fight a conventional war in Europe.
Initially a new experimental unit was formed at Fort Benning, Georgia, the
on 11 February 1963, combining light infantry with integral helicopter transport and air support. Opinions vary as to the level of support for the concept within the A some have argued that the initial tests against the context of conventional warfare did not prove promising, and, despite opposition from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it was primarily the Secretary of Defense
who pushed through the changes in 1965, drawing on support from within the Pentagon which had now begun to establish a counter-insurgency doctrine that would require just such a unit. Others have put more weight on the support of newly appointed senior Army commanders, including the new Chief of Staff , in driving through the changes. Nonetheless, the
assets were merged with the co-located 2nd Infantry Division and reflagged as the , continuing the tradition of the . Within several months it was sent to
and the concept of air mobility became bound up with the challenges of that campaign, especially its varied
- the jungles, mountains, and rivers which complicated ground movement.
The first unit of the new division to see action was the 1st Battalion, , led by
. The 7th Cavalry was the same regiment that Custer had commanded at the ill fated . On November 14, 1965, Moore led his troops in the first large unit engagement of the 1960s Vietnam War, which took place near the Chu Pong massif near the Vietnam- border. It is known today as the , and is considered to be the first large scale helicopter air assault.
1st Cavalry Division forces at LZ Stud.
1st Cavalry Division troops directing artillery on enemy trucks in A Shau Valley.
This battalion (vice "squadron," which would have been its nomenclature had it actually been a cavalry organization) gave common currency, albeit incorrectly, to the
term "Air Cavalry." However, 1-7 Cav was in actuality an infantry formation carrying a "Cavalry" designation purely for purposes of lineage and heraldry. (True
organizations are/were helicopter-mounted reconnaissance units.) Light infantry-centric organizations (battalions, brigades, or divisions) that are trained, organized, and equipped to operate with organic (i.e., owned by the joint parent headquarters of both the light infantry organization and the supporting aviation organization) are classified as "Air Assault," previously designated as "Airmobile."
The Vietnam-era 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) was not an "air cavalry" division, per se, although it did contain air cavalry squadrons. The division was a new concept that probably was more akin to a modern version of "mounted rifles," owing to its helicopter "mounts," and, as did 7-1 Cav discussed above, carried the "Cavalry" designation primarily for purposes of lineage and heraldry, and not because of its then current mission or organizational structure.
On a practical level, virtually any light infantry formation can instantly become "airmobile" simply by dividing the assault elements into "chalks" (aircraft load designations pertaining to order of loading and type of aircraft), embarking them on the aircraft, transporting them to the objective/assembly area, and inserting/disembarking them into a landing zone, etc. However, true "air assault" organizations are specialized light infantry, (much like airborne troops), who are trained, organized, and equipped, specifically to perform the complex, rapid, and dynamic tasks inherent in air assault vice simply being transported by aircraft. Perhaps a rough comparison can be made between "motorized" and "mechanized" infantry. Any light infantry unit can be transported by truck (viz., "motorized"), however, "mechanized" infantry are specifically trained, organized, and equipped to conduct operations in close-coordination with tanks.
Portuguese Paratroopers jumping from an
helicopter, in an air assault in Angola, in the early 1960s.
The armed forces of ,
widely conducted airmobile warfare operations in , during the
() and the
(). The airmobile warfare was part of the
actions made by the forces of the three countries against guerrilla forces in , , ,
The airmobile warfare tactics used by Portugal, Rhodesia and South Africa had many similar characteristics. The air forces of the three countries also used the same types of helicopters (mainly
and later, regarding Portugal and South Africa, ), and there were military cooperation agreements and sharing of experience between the three powers, including the secret .
Portuguese, Rhodesian and South African airmobile tactics often involved air assaults done by small units of
or , transported in four or five Alouette III helicopters. Assaults were often supported by an Alouette III armed with a side-mounted 20 mm
. This helicopter was nicknamed Helicanh?o (heli-cannon) by the Portuguese and K-Car by the Rhodesians. Variants of the air mobile warfare tactics used in Africa included the Rhodesian
and the Portuguese .
air assault during Desert Storm to secure the Coalition's left flank.
Desert Storm – 101st Airborne's Rapid Refuel Point (RRP) capable of servicing 20 helicopters simultaneously.
Preparations for
in Iraq, 2006.
Iraq 2007.
Air assault mission with Apache gunship escort.
Helicopters (AH-64s, UH-60s, CH-47s) are organic to US airborne commands.
In the United States military, the air assault mission is the primary role of the . This unit is the only division-sized helicopter-borne fighting force in the world. 101st Airborne Division soldiers attend the Sabalauski Air Assault School.The course is known as the "toughest" 12 days in the Army. Graduates are qualified to insert and extract using fast rope and rappel means from a hover in addition to the ordinary walk on and off from an airlanded helicopter.
Light Infantry has a limited capability to perform air assault operations. On September 19, 1994, the 1st Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division conducted the Army’s first air assault from an aircraft carrier, the , as part of . This force consisted of 54 helicopters and almost 2,000 soldiers. This was the Army's largest operation from an aircraft carrier since the
There are other major "conventional" units in the United States Army that have pa the separate , based in Italy and Germany, and the Alaska-based , which has its division headquarters in , and the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry Regiment based in Fort Polk, Louisiana supporting the Joint Readiness Training Center as the opposing force for training rotational units. The 173rd ABCT parachuted into Northern
during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. These units are considered regional quick reaction parachute forces for the Pacific and Atlantic regions.
is Britain's main air assault body. It comprises units of paratroopers from the
and light infantry units trained in helicopter insertion, as well as light
are also highly experienced in air assault, both for boarding ships and in land attacks, see article above.
601 Air Assault Regiment
Air Assault Brigade 1
(Air Force Special Corps)
Wing I (4 battalions, 4 independent companies)
Wing II (4 battalions, 2 independent companies)
(Air Force Special Force Unit)
(Army Strategic Command)
3rd Air Assault Brigade/ Tri Budi Mahasakti
17th Air Assault Brigade/ Kujang I
18th Air Assault Bridage/ Trisula
[Combined with the helicopters of the Royal Netherlands Air Force, they form the 11 Air Manoeuvre Brigade (11 AMB)]
(1999 to present)
601 Air Cavalry Brigade
602 Air Cavalry Brigade
– Vadsbro Squadron
61st Air Assault Brigade
1st Brigade Combat Team
2nd Brigade Combat Team
3rd Brigade Combat Team
VII Corps 'VANGUARD OF NORTHERN ADVANCE' 7th Assault Battalion
20th Parachute Battalion
(documentary TV series)
. GlobalSecurity.org 2013.
, , Retrieved . Quotes "The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military").
pp.49-51 Boyne, Walter J. How the Helicopter Changed Modern Warfare Pelican Publishing, 2011
Rawlins, Eugene W. (1976). Marines and Helicopters . : . p. 20.
Rawlins, Marines and Helicopters , p. 35
– US Centennial of Flight Commission
– Page 46
Tim Benbow, British Naval Aviation: The First 100 Years, Ashgate Publishing, 2011, p. 161
, Military History
Freedman, Lawrence Kennedy's Wars: Berlin, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam Oxford University Press: Oxford (2000) pp. 334–35.
Krepinevich, Andrew F. The Army and Vietnam. Johns Hopkins Press: Baltimore (1986) pp. 121–22.
Krepinevich, Andrew F. The Army and Vietnam John Hopkins Press: Baltimore (1986) p.124.
Stockfisch, J. A. The 1962 Howze board and Army Combat Developments Rand Corporation: Santa Monica, C.A. (1994) pp9-10. Online at
Whittle, Richard.
p. 41. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010. . Retrieved: 6 August 2012.
ABBOTT, Peter, VOLSTAD, Ronald, "Modern African Wars (2) – Angola and Mozambique 1961–74", Osprey Publishing, 1988
CANN, Jonh P., "Counterinsurgency in Africa: The Portuguese Way of War, ", Hailer Publishing, 2005
Arthur, Max, There Shall Be Wings, Hodder and Stoughton, 1994,
Scales, Robert H. & Scales, Jr., Robert H., Certain Victory: The U.S. Army in the Gulf War, Brassey's, 1994
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