# British troops facing air supply crisis in Afghanistan



## GAP (5 Apr 2007)

British troops facing air supply crisis in Afghanistan  
By Tom Coghlan in Kabul Published: 05 July 2006 
Article Link

British forces in Afghanistan are facing a supply crisis because nearly half of their helicopter transport fleet is unable to fly in daylight hours due to the searing Helmand heat. 

The 3,300 British troops in the south rely on six Chinook and four Lynx aircraft for all transport and supply. The extreme heat and thin, rising air of the Helmand desert has limited the Lynx, an attack and utility helicopter, to use between dusk and dawn, when temperatures fall to acceptable levels, military sources confirmed.

Captain Drew Gibson, the British military spokesman with the Helmand force, declined to comment on the Lynx problems, citing "operational reasons". Lt Rob Hunt, the military spokesman in Kabul, said: "The Lynx is just one of a range of aircraft available to ground commanders in theatre. All air assets have their own operating margin and this is true of the Lynx. They are still a valued and useful asset in theatre, whatever their operating restrictions."

Brigadier Ed Butler, the commander of British forces in the south, admitted he had made a request for new equipment in Helmand amid a sharp increase in attacks and "changing circumstances". Five British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan in the past three weeks.

Questions surrounding the Lynx have compounded an already precarious situation for logistical support elements of the British force. General David Richards, overall Nato commander in Afghanistan, admitted last month that the transport helicopters available to forces in the south remained at the level they were at the start of this year, even though the number of troops has more than doubled since that time.

A Chinook resupply flight - able to carry 54 troops or 11 tons of equipment - was cancelled last month when a US soldier based with British troops in Musa Qala needed air evacuation with appendicitis. A Lynx would normally be used. British forces pinned down by Taliban guerrillas near the town of Gereshk last week waited for more than four hours for air support because no Lynx could fly. 
More on link


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## Jammer (5 Apr 2007)

...I'll bet you wouldn't have that problem in the Falklands....


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## ronnychoi (6 Apr 2007)

How are they going to get their prime rib?..


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## Jacqueline (6 Apr 2007)

> British forces in Afghanistan are facing a supply crisis because nearly half of their helicopter transport fleet is unable to fly in daylight hours due to the searing Helmand heat.



I guess this means more night flights. Details, would be interesting.


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## 3rd Herd (6 Apr 2007)

Interesting problem the Soviets encountered:
"Helicopters are also vital to Soviet engineer reconnaissance. Rotary wing aircraft survey and photograph routes and they deliver sapper teams of various composition (including dogs) and engineer equipment to designated areas. Enemy fire, of course, is always a factor on such missions. In one case, however, a Soviet helicopter flying low cover for a column moving through a narrow mountain gorge was downed when an APC detonated a land mine. The flying rock fragments from the explosion damaged the rotor blades, requiring an emergency landing, and added a new dimension to the land mine problem for Soviet aviators to consider."(http://leav-www.army.mil/fmso/documents/sovcombat/sovcombat.HTM) 

However dealling with the matter at hand it seems that the Soviets "Despite the high temperatures, the helicopters built in the "Mil" Design Bureau and designed for use in the territory of the USSR (most of which has a temperate climate) were quite tolerant to all the hardships and were practically unaffected by the extreme conditions. The helicopters were equipped with air-conditioning which automatically maintained the required temperature in the cockpit, and the crew felt quite comfortable during the flight.(Shchipachov) In addition to the heat another general unexpected problem arose "A formidable enemy in Afghanistan turned out to be the weather and the terrain. “We went into this operation with a great degree of respect for the Taliban. … But what we found, of equal concern, was the environment: the weather, winds, dust.”(Votel)

Source:

Votel, Joseph L. Army Col. 75th Ranger Regiment.

SHCHIPACHOV, Konstantin  "MI-24 IN THE AFGHAN SKY", Voyenno-Kosmicheskaya Oborona magazine(Airspace Defence), 03.06.2005 

Turbiville, Jr., Dr. Graham H. "Soviet Combat Engineers in Afghanistan Old Lessons and Future Wars"
http://leav-www.army.mil/fmso/documents/sovcombat/sovcombat.HTM


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