US changes tactics after helicopter crashes

US army helicopters in Iraq are now flying at low altitude, high speed and at varied routes following a series of bloody crashes, most of them due to hostile fire.

Military officials have not determined the cause of Saturday’s crash of two Black Hawk helicopters in Mosul, which killed 17 soldiers in the deadliest single incident since the Iraq war began March 20.

However, hostile fire is believed behind three other crashes since October 25. Some witnesses attributed the Mosul crashes to hostile fire.

However, Brigadier General Mark Hertling said today that “indications” based on preliminary findings indicate that the final report on the Mosul incident will be “different than what the media presented so far.”

“Our helicopters fly different tactics” since the crashes, Hertling said in Baghdad. “They fly different routes. Every time they move somewhere, they will change the routes, they will fly lower and faster.”

Although the new tactics will not eliminate the risk to helicopters entirely, they are expected to reduce their vulnerability.

“Flying faster and hugging the ground is going to stop helicopters being shot down in numbers and make them safer,” said Charles Heyman, senior defence analyst for Janes Consultancy Group in London.

“It makes things more difficult for the opposition, everything is over so quickly. To shoot at you, they have to set up the missile, or aim the machine gun much more quickly…You fly like you’re flying an aerial motorcycle. You come out of nowhere and you are gone before anyone can reach for their weapon.”

Hertling said the lower and faster style may create more noise problems for Iraqi civilians.

“But until we can improve and be sure that the security is improved, we’re going to have to fly very low and very fast. But we are also conducting searches of areas where we think fires maybe coming from,” Hertling said.

Hertling dismissed the notion that the use of missiles and other tactics point to greater sophistication by the insurgents, as a number of lower-ranking soldiers have said.

“I don’t think there has been any sophistication in terms of even the shooting down of helicopters. I think we’ve had a couple of incidents where it has been quite frankly luck. An RPG launch against a helicopter. It’s a big target and I think that’s murder too,” he said.

Hertling said the use of such weapons works against the Iraqi people by delaying the opening of airports to full commercial service.