Company R, 4/278^th ACR

 

Soldiers of Company R, 4th Squadron of the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment finally received the AH-64A Apache Gunships that they have been waiting for.  Four of the helicopters arrived at the end of March 2003, and another two are scheduled to arrive within a week.  The company will eventually have a total of nine.  This new equipment will pose some training challenges for the soldiers of Company R, since they will have new maintenance and piloting proficiency requirements.  Company R has been training to meet those requirements since September 2001, when the unit turned in its older Cobra helicopters in anticipation of being tasked with the Apaches.

 

As soon as the unit turned in its Cobras, it immediately began the task of training its pilots and maintenance personnel.  All but a few pilots from Company R have completed the initial flight school at Ft. Rucker, Alabama.  This school is three months long and requires that these citizen-soldiers take time away from their civilian jobs and families.  After returning from the course, they are classified as Readiness Level 3 pilots, and still have many flight hours ahead of them before they are qualified at Readiness Level 2, and then eventually Level 1.  The 1/337th Training Support Battalion is sending several full-time instructor pilots to help with the training.  These instructors will first train some of the pilots at Company R to be instructors themselves.  The unit instructor trainees are required to attend an additional 45-day school.

 

The pilot training consists of flying the Apaches themselves as well as time spent in a flight simulator.  The deployment of the 101st Airborne from Ft. Campbell has provided an unexpected opportunity for the pilots from Company R.  Because of the deployments to Afghanistan and now to Iraq, the pilots of Company R have been able to utilize Ft. Campbell's flight simulators that would otherwise have been reserved for pilots of the 101st.

 

An Apache helicopter has two seats.  The back-seat is for the pilot who does the actual flying.  The front seat is for the co-pilot gunner ("CPG") who controls the weapon systems.  The pilot and the CPG have different proficiency requirements and most pilots are trained only in one seat.  It is anticipated that five or six of 18 pilots from Company R will be trained in both seats and have a dual proficiency.

 

The maintenance requirements are also daunting, but as with the pilots, many soldiers from Company R have already begun their training.  Each Apache will be assigned three soldiers, two for maintenance and one for armament.  There are 23 different manuals to be followed and numerous inspections that must be completed to keep the Apaches in combat shape.  The biggest inspection comes after every 250 hours of flight time.  The Apache is completely torn down and reassembled.  The inspection checklist for this inspection contains 300 pages of detailed inspection items.  The training for this type of work is every bit as time consuming as the training that the pilots go through.  Beginning level soldiers must complete a 14-week course to learn the maintenance requirements of the Apache systems.  Senior level soldiers that have already completed an aviation maintenance course must return to school for five weeks. 

 

The acquisition of the Apaches has dramatically increased combat power.  The Apache is bigger, stronger and faster than its older counterpart.  For instance, the Apache has a 30mm chain gun, much bigger than the 20mm rounds fired by the Cobra.  The gun can be synchronized with sensors in the pilot's helmet that allow the gun to move and aim at targets that the pilot looks at.  The Apache can carry up to 16 Hellfire anti-tank missiles while the Cobra could carry only eight anti-tank missiles that were inferior to the Hellfire.  But perhaps the most significant difference between the two aircraft, and the item that poses the greatest training challenges for the pilots, is the Apache's night vision system.  Apache pilots use the aircraft's "forward looking infrared" ("FLIR") system instead of night vision goggles that they used to wear in the Cobra.  The Apache pilot lowers a monocle eyepiece over his right eye.  With the images that are electronically displayed on the eyepiece from sensors on the front of the aircraft, the pilot "sees" the battlefield.  Once the pilots get used to this night-vision system, it is vastly superior to the old way, but it will take some getting used to.