- Reaction score
- 8,045
- Points
- 1,360
Shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the Copyright Act (http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/info/act-e.html#rid-33409)
http://tinyurl.com/m462w
Dramatic plan for parachute assault on poppy fields
By Sean Rayment, Telegraph Online, 16/04/2006
''British Commanders in Afghanistan are planning the first operational parachute assault into "enemy territory" since the Suez crisis, writes Sean Rayment.
Senior officers hope that a "dramatic show of force" will deter attacks against British troops when they begin anti-drug operations later this year.
By the end of this month, most of the 3,300 strong British force - including 650 members of the 3rd Battalion of The Parachute Regiment - will have arrived in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan, a former stronghold of the Taliban.
It is understood that Army commanders want to demonstrate to Afghan warlords and drugs barons that they have the capability to drop 650 heavily armed men, supported by Apache attack helicopters, virtually anywhere in the country.
If the mission goes ahead, the troops will jump from Hercules C130 transport aircraft at a height of between 250 and 300 feet and will be ready to fight within seconds of hitting the ground.
A Parachute Regiment officer confirmed that the troops would be taking their parachute equipment to Afghanistan and said that senior officers had a "very real desire" to carry out an airborne assault. One officer said: "Airborne assaults are very high-risk operations. There is a thin line between success and disaster.
"An airborne assault on to a poppy field would send out a powerful message of intent. But if there is any intelligence that the enemy may have surface-to-air missiles, then it would not go ahead."
The last time British troops took part in a airborne assault was during the Suez crisis of 1956 when soldiers from 3 Para jumped into the El Gamil airfield in Egypt as part of an Anglo-French operation to capture the Suez canal.
(...)''
http://tinyurl.com/m462w
Dramatic plan for parachute assault on poppy fields
By Sean Rayment, Telegraph Online, 16/04/2006
''British Commanders in Afghanistan are planning the first operational parachute assault into "enemy territory" since the Suez crisis, writes Sean Rayment.
Senior officers hope that a "dramatic show of force" will deter attacks against British troops when they begin anti-drug operations later this year.
By the end of this month, most of the 3,300 strong British force - including 650 members of the 3rd Battalion of The Parachute Regiment - will have arrived in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan, a former stronghold of the Taliban.
It is understood that Army commanders want to demonstrate to Afghan warlords and drugs barons that they have the capability to drop 650 heavily armed men, supported by Apache attack helicopters, virtually anywhere in the country.
If the mission goes ahead, the troops will jump from Hercules C130 transport aircraft at a height of between 250 and 300 feet and will be ready to fight within seconds of hitting the ground.
A Parachute Regiment officer confirmed that the troops would be taking their parachute equipment to Afghanistan and said that senior officers had a "very real desire" to carry out an airborne assault. One officer said: "Airborne assaults are very high-risk operations. There is a thin line between success and disaster.
"An airborne assault on to a poppy field would send out a powerful message of intent. But if there is any intelligence that the enemy may have surface-to-air missiles, then it would not go ahead."
The last time British troops took part in a airborne assault was during the Suez crisis of 1956 when soldiers from 3 Para jumped into the El Gamil airfield in Egypt as part of an Anglo-French operation to capture the Suez canal.
(...)''
