Summary
Complete Guide
See the full content of this document
Extract
Black kite discretion.
The employment of aerospace assets in Special Operations has come to be primarily associated with specially-equipped fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft that insert small numbers of personnel into hostile territory, and resupply and extract them using highly trained crews and night-time low-level flying. However, development efforts are now concentrated on hand- or bungee-launched lightweight reconnaissance drones and the precise delivery of personnel and stores by guided parafoils.
As in many aspects of modern warfare, special air operations had their origins in Hitler's Germany. One of the surprises sprung on the Allies m the 1940 Blitzkrieg (lightning war) was the DFS 230A assault glider, which carried eight troops and was towed to the target area by a Junkers Ju 52/3m. It was first employed on 10 May in a dawn attack on the Belgian fort at Eben-Emael; ten of these gliders landing 78 heavily-armed Fallschirmtruppen (paratroopers) on the roof of the fort, which was disabled by large hand-placed shaped charges (another innovation). The need for a shorter landing subsequently led to t...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
