adrake83 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 (edited) If we want to split hairs, they are not Special Forces helos, but Special Operations helos. In the US Army anyways, Special Forces are Green Berets, who have a very specific mission set and are not usually supported by the 160th SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment). Gino, I'd have to disagree with you on the specific mission set of the US Army Special Forces (Green Berets are just hats they wear). While their bread-and-butter mission is Unconventional Warfare, they are more than capable of conducting Direct Action, Special Reconnaissance, Intelligence Collection, Foreign Internal Defense, and even hostage rescue missions. Even Unconventional Warfare is just an umbrella term for many different mission sets that falls under it. I'm sure you are aware of this but I wanted to dispel the perception that Special Forces are only capable of conducting specific missions. While they are typically not supported by the 160th, they do have a working relationship with them for specific missions. Prior to Desert One, each Special Forces Group had a platoon of UH-60s assigned to it. When the 160th was formed, those helicopters were reassigned to the new unit with the promise that they would be used to directly support the SFGs but, with the Global War on Terrorism, JSOC has sucked up those assets which has left the SF teams to rely on air support from whatever conventional air unit is operating in the area. Edited June 12, 2015 by adrake83 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HeavyArty Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Agree with all. Just wanted to point out that Special Ops is much more than only Special Forces. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Prior to Desert One, each Special Forces Group had a platoon of UH-60s assigned to it. Interesting. Curious whether those were from the old Task Force 158 or if they were assigned to regular army units and just tasked to support the SF groups. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
adrake83 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 (edited) Interesting. Curious whether those were from the old Task Force 158 or if they were assigned to regular army units and just tasked to support the SF groups. After talking to an old SF guy, he said that those Blackhawks were pulled by TF 158. I read several books about the Night Stalkers that went into its formation and I don't recall anything about them pulling helicopters from SF Groups so it might be that they were given to other units and the crews were absorbed into TF 158. That's really just speculation on my part though. Edited June 12, 2015 by adrake83 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hawkwrench Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 As far as remember,each sf group had its own aviation asset, but was absorbed into the 16016th around late 88 or early 89 I think. I remember going to the 5th group hangar at Simmons army airfield for parts runs occasionally and seeing their hawks in the hangar. They were pretty off-standish to me when I came in, almost like they didn't want me there! Tim Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 As far as remember,each sf group had its own aviation asset, but was absorbed into the 16016th around late 88 or early 89 I think. I remember going to the 5th group hangar at Simmons army airfield for parts runs occasionally and seeing their hawks in the hangar. They were pretty off-standish to me when I came in, almost like they didn't want me there! Tim That's pretty interesting. I always thought the TF158/160th guys were the only ones in the special ops flying business (except that one "civil" unit whose name cannot be mentioned). Do you happen to recall if they were standard UH-60's or modified similar to what the 160th was flying? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
adrake83 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 They were standard UH-60As. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chief Snake Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 As far as remember,each sf group had its own aviation asset, but was absorbed into the 16016th around late 88 or early 89 I think. I remember going to the 5th group hangar at Simmons army airfield for parts runs occasionally and seeing their hawks in the hangar. They were pretty off-standish to me when I came in, almost like they didn't want me there! Tim The 11th SFGP had a flight platoon next to us at Fort Meade. They vanished in 1988. Chris M Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hawkwrench Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 They were standard UH-60As. Yes, they were the standard Uh-60's but with the Do it. I don't remember if they had the square stab of not. Tim Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Evilspyderman Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 We don't use m134 dump tubes. Â You can't easily traverse the guns because the tube will hit the mount. Â We used to but the tube was floppy and when bent over on the gun bar, it would back fill links and brass up to the gun and jam it so when the wore out we sopped using them. Â Now the links and brass just beat the crap out of the bird. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sarathi S. Posted December 25, 2016 Share Posted December 25, 2016 Is that just the case with the Hawks, or have the Chinooks done away with the brass chutes as well? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Evilspyderman Posted December 25, 2016 Share Posted December 25, 2016 Chinooks and DAPs use the chutes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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