What does the 16 Special Air Corps do? Is the special operation fierce? (operations that must be exposed)

It should be called the US Army's 16th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, with outstanding combat power and outstanding military achievements. It is the Depth Charge where the United States controls the world.

the U.S. Army's 16th Aviation Combat Regiment "Night Sneaker" is the only aviation unit of the U.S. Army's special operations force. Its predecessor was Company D of the 159th Aviation Battalion, which was established in 1977 as a helicopter support unit to support special operations at night. In 1981, it was reorganized into the "16th Aviation Battalion" and deployed to the Army Base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, USA. Later, the scale of the troops gradually expanded and developed into a regiment. By May 199, it was renamed as the "16th Special Operations Aviation Regiment".

the 16th special operations aviation regiment is composed of headquarters and aviation training squadron (Fort Campbell), 1st battalion (Fort Campbell), 2nd battalion (Fort Campbell), 3rd battalion D squadron (Puerto Rico) and 4th battalion (Daegu, South Korea), with a total strength of about 1,2 people.

Mission type:

The mission characteristics of the 16th Special Operations Aviation Regiment of the US Army are obviously different from those of the Special Operations Wing of the US Air Force, and it does not undertake attack or electric warfare missions; On the other hand, the main task of the 16th Special Operations Aviation Regiment is to break through the limitation of helicopter operation airspace, cut into the dark night sky, and achieve the special operations transportation task of secret infiltration. Its flight requirements are low altitude and high speed sensitivity; Low altitude is to avoid the detection of enemy air defense radar, transport special operations troops to the target area without warning from the enemy, and withdraw special operations personnel after performing the task; High speed and agility are to avoid the pursuit of enemy ground anti-aircraft fire in combat.

in order to achieve the above mission objectives, darkness is the best natural cover, so the 16th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which pays special attention to dark night flight, is used to being called "Night Stalkers". In addition to the main task of secret infiltration in the dark, they must also be dispatched in the daytime as long as the situation requires; The task characteristics of being on standby at any time naturally form its spiritual slogan: "Night stalkers never stop".

Training:

In order to meet the requirements of special operations, the main task and training direction of the 16th Task Force have two major points, one is to fly in the dark at night, and the other is to train the special operations ability of flight crew.

For high-quality airmen, special warfare training is difficult, but it is not difficult. Usually, after training in standards and skills, airmen can cooperate with the task of special warfare troops (after all, ground combat is not the main task of airmen). What is really difficult is to adapt the pilot to the flight conditions in complete darkness.

Because of the special combat mission, the infiltration mission usually needs to be carried out on a small scale in bad weather (dark night and bad weather) and difficult terrain, so as to achieve the task of infiltration surprise attack without enemy detection. Therefore, flying low in the dark at night, terrain obstacles and independent and helpless tasks have become the main training requirements for pilots of the 16th Task Force.

Battle history:

1. invasion of grenada's "Anger Action"

The first covert operation of the 16th Task Force was this operation on October 24th, 1983. In this campaign, the 16th Task Force dispatched almost all helicopters. Apart from the AH-6 attack helicopter, it was responsible for the beachhead combat reconnaissance before the landing of the 4th SEAL Team, and also used AH-6 to accompany the UH-6 (MH-6 special warfare derivative was not activated at that time) to transport special warfare troops (Delta Team 1 and SEAL Team 6) to carry out air raids on inland targets.

Although it was a surprise attack, the scale of the "provocation action" was by no means the combat posture that secret special forces should have, thus causing unexpected war training.

Grenada's "provocation" originally intended to accomplish its tactical goal by lightning raid tactics of elite special forces, so as to publicize the Reagan administration's determination to carry out regional security tasks at that time. However, it is obvious that the special forces of the three armed forces of the United States are not suitable for formal military operations other than covert operations.

The fleet of the 16th Task Force suffered serious losses, and the Delta and Seal Special Forces failed to perform their tasks smoothly. What's more, the rangers responsible for the main attack suffered more damage than originally expected. After all, the war is cruel in reality. Obviously, the tactical application of the special forces of the US military still does not apply to formal military actions like "provocation". Therefore, within less than 24 hours after the war, the Joint Special Operations Command decided to completely withdraw all the special forces.

2. Cruise ship hostage rescue operation

Task Force 16th is a well-known public operation, which was a cruise ship hostage rescue operation in October 1985. On October 5, 1985, Palestinian terrorists hijacked the Italian cruise ship Archille Lauro; After learning that most of the hostages on board were American citizens, the United States immediately dispatched special forces to prepare for the hostage rescue operation.

The MH-6J and MH-6 helicopter groups of the 16th Task Force were immediately transported to the Sigri La Naval Air Base in Sicily for deployment. The Seal Special Forces were also on standby to launch an underwater raid on the cruise ship, and the Delta Special Forces were prepared to launch a surprise rescue operation in case the cruise ship landed or the hostages were moved to land.

Because there are still many citizens among the hostages, the United States can't act arbitrarily, and because of the insistence of the Italian government, the surprise action of the US special forces has been suppressed after the negotiation priority; During the protracted negotiations, the cruise ship finally sailed to Egypt, and the Egyptian government agreed to provide planes for terrorists to flee to Tunisia.

because terrorists shot and killed an American citizen in cold blood and threw his body into the sea during the ship hijacking, the United States decided to intercept the terrorists for judicial trial as soon as the hostages were out of the hands of terrorists.

When the terrorists flew out of Egypt's airspace, the US military dispatched F-14 fighter planes over the Mediterranean Sea, successfully intercepted the Boeing 737 of EgyptAir and forced it to land in Sigri.

3. Persian Gulf Action

When entering the Persian Gulf tanker war at the end of the Iran-Iraq war, the attitude of the United States was obviously more biased towards Iraq. After several years of war between Iran and Iraq, in order to destroy each other's economic lifeline, they began to attack each other's crude oil production and transportation facilities and attack each other's oil tankers sailing at sea; Iraq dispatched Mirage fighters to launch flying fish missiles to attack Iranian oil tankers and facilities.

In contrast, Iran attacked Iraq's crude oil production facilities with speedboats at sea. Because the war at sea may affect the important oil sources of European and American countries, the United States began to carry out maritime attacks on Iran in this name.

Because Iran uses offshore oil rigs as a base for maritime communication and attack, attacking Iranian offshore oil rigs has become the main task of the 16th Task Force. In order to successfully carry out the attack mission, AH-6J of the 16th Task Force specially conducted survival training for "hit-and-run" and forced landing at sea (Iran deployed troops on oil rigs).

MH-6 also drills and carries seal special forces or other special personnel to prepare for a surprise attack on Iran's oil drilling platform. Facts have proved that thorough drills beforehand are absolutely helpful for the mission. The attack of the 16th Task Force on Iranian oil rigs was quite successful, and dozens of Iranian oil rigs were completely destroyed by the US special forces. AH-6J of the 16th Task Force also directly destroyed several oil rigs with on-board firepower.

4. invasion of Panama

when it was still established as a task force, the biggest deployment action of the 16th task force was the "just invasion" of Panama by American soldiers in December 1989. In this operation, the US military dispatched more than 4, special forces, and of course, the 16th Task Force inevitably participated.

during the invasion of Panama, the AH/MH-6J of the 16th Task Force gave full play to the ability of mobile penetration and attack; During the infiltration mission, AH/MH-6J carried special operations teams to rescue American hostages and search for Panamanian strongman Noriega. Although the strength is wide, the military forces supporting Noriega are also opponents that cannot be ignored. During the whole war, two AH-6 helicopters and one MH-6 helicopter were destroyed by enemy fire, and the ground special forces also suffered considerable losses.

5. Gulf War

The Gulf War, the largest war in modern times, was the largest deployment of the US military since the Vietnam War. At that time, with the establishment of the US Special Operations Command, the 16th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which was expanded into a regimental level, also fully supported the overall deployment of the US military.

At that time, the existing ground forces deployed in the Persian Gulf region were only the Green Flat Hat Force of the 5th Aviation Special Operations Group and the 3rd Battalion of the 16th Special Operations Aviation Group; In order to prevent Iraqi troops from continuing to invade Saudi Arabia, the helicopter group of the 3rd Battalion of the 16th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, carrying green flat hat troops, busily and nervously laid mines on the border between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and even went deep into Iraq along the Saudi defense line to spy on the actions and deployment of Iraqi troops.

in order to search for and destroy the Iraqi mobile air defense system in the vast area behind the front edge of the war zone, the fleet of the 16th Special Operations Aviation Regiment entered along the air defense gap of the Iraqi front line that had been destroyed by the allied forces, and searched for and destroyed the Iraqi independent targets.

In addition to air mobile strike missions, the 16th Special Operations Aviation Regiment is also responsible for ground enemy reconnaissance and friendly forces mobile transport missions. Shortly after the desert storm air raid was carried out, the Iraqi heavy troops began to retreat along Highway 8 connecting the Iraq-Kuwait border. MH-6 of the 16th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, carrying the 5th Airborne Special Operations Regiment, which can speak Arabic, immediately scouted the Iraqi army's movements in the forward observation position, which laid the foundation for the smooth implementation of the subsequent ground operations.

6. Operation Red Wings

In 25, the 16th Special Operations Aviation Regiment of the US Army was sent to Afghanistan to carry out its mission. On June 25, the US military launched Operation Red Wing, and the 16th Special Operations Aviation Regiment was responsible for transporting SEALs and providing fire support.

Crash casualties:

Due to the siege of four SEALs on the ground, the US military base camp immediately dispatched eight soldiers of the 16th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and eight special SEALs to the mountainous area for rescue by MH-47 slave helicopters. When it was about to land, the Chinook helicopter was shot down by the RPG-7 rocket launcher armed at the base, killing all 16 members on board.

On the evening of June 3th, American troops finally arrived at the crash site of Chinook, and found the bodies of 16 American troops who were burned beyond recognition. The youngest of these 16 soldiers is only 2 years old and the oldest is 4 years old. Their bodies were transported to balague, the largest US military base in Afghanistan, and then transported back to Dover, USA.