"What altitude are they flying at? Small arms fire downing them???"
Helicopters fly very low to limit their exposure to groundfire.
During their war in Afganistan, we supplied the mujahadeen with something like 2,000 stingers. It looks like Iran is a student of history and is doing to us what we did to the USSR.
As long as the media think of every soldier death as more newsworthy than a thousand terrorist deaths, the Left will win the casualty fights.
Very low or very high. In Vietnam we tried to stay under 50' or over 1500' to avoid small arms fire.
That said, I'd rather go back to Vietnam for a couple of tours than put up for even a month of urban operations like what these guys are dealing with.
Nope. See post #25.
Helicopters fly very low to limit their exposure to groundfire.
During their war in Afganistan, we supplied the mujahadeen with something like 2,000 stingers. It looks like Iran is a student of history and is doing to us what we did to the USSR.
First of all, there's no confirmation that the aircraft was shot down. It could have been, or it could have crashed for any other number of reasons (mechanical failure/wire strike/pilot error, etc..).
Blackwater crews fly at the airspeeds, altitudes and evasive profiles it takes to conduct their mission. They are very aggressive. These are very skilled, very high time crews, most with extensive background in special operations aviation.
Regardless, there are inherent risks in flying these aircraft in the profiles they operate in. It comes with the job and the crewmembers accept this (although it doesn't make it any easier on the rest of us). As with most helicopters, you may have to land and take off again at some point in a mission. This is where you're usually the most vulnerable, especially in urban terrain- low, slow and usually in a steep approach to land or near vertical climb on departure. This requires the pilot to use more power than usual, which increases engine exhaust heat creating a higher target signature for a MANPAD seeker to lock onto.
And, MANPADS, since they were developed, always have been and remain a helicopter crew's worst nightmare. There is no early warning for a heat seeker; they almost always engage from the rear making them hard or impossible to see coming at you and there is no guarantee that any flares the crew may dispense will spoof the missile.
Also, if the aircraft was shot down over the neighborhood mentioned, there's a good chance that the Sunnis and/or al Qaeda are responsible for it in this case, not an Iranian or Iraqi Shiite.
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf"- George Orwell
Thank God for these fallen men and God bless their families and comrades in the days ahead.