Republic of Folk

What does Air Assault means?

In our Arma 2 context, Air Assault is basically the movement of ground-based troops via helicopter, in order to seize and hold key strategic points that are not fully secured yet. It uses the great versatility and firepower of helicopters to give the commander the ability to quickly deploy troops over the battlefield to his own advantage.
Air assault should therefore not be confused with Air Mobility, which is merely the transport of assets via aircraft from a secure zone to another one. Given the scale of maps and engagements in Arma 2, Air Mobility will usually make no sense in the game (unless a mission was specifically designed for it, which I've never seen yet).
Air assault should not be confused with Airborne Assault either, which makes use of paratroopers.
Let's not get into the specifics of it, will ya.

What are the basics of Air assault?

As I said, air assault's purpose is to deploy troops quickly into potentially "hot" zones. This means the helicopter, its crew, and its cargo are likely to be engaged upon approaching their LZ and disembarking.
This leads to two things: The LZ should be as heavily suppressed as possible before and during the insertion, and the helicopter (which did cost a lot to the party) should stay on site for as short a time as possible.
Assaulting troops should provide security on the LZ immediately upon disembarking and expect to be shot at.

Wait. Wait. Do you mean it's fine to land under fire?

Ho, stop there, soldier. I've never said "land".
As far as the game goes, it's totally possible to perform an insertion under small arms fire without casualties. Anything above that (SPG, AA guns, HMGs, and so on) will put the chopper and its cargo at risk, it becomes highly likely that the chopper will get shot down, and you can be sure dismounts will be butchered.
If no recon on the LZ is available, and the chopper comes under heavy fire upon approaching, it's the responsibility of the pilot to decide to abort the insertion and inform the CO.

So we don't land. Okay...

Exactly. Air mobility is just there to get you from A to B, in safe zones, the chopper can thus perform a perfect landing and wait until everybody has made sure he didn't forget his toothpaste under the seat. When it comes to Air Assault, time and speed are of the essence. The chopper needs to keep his potential mobility to the maximum at all times. The pilot should then choose a hover insertion, or a moving insertion. This will allow him to get in position and take off faster. It also gives the crew chief / door gunners some elevation so they can keep suppressing the area over the head of the dimounts. The assaulting troops thus need to jump out of the chopper.

Jump? But... Won't I get hurt?

You'll suffer in silence, comrade.
The game will allow a perfectly safe dismount as soon as the chopper has an altitude under 3 meters, and a speed under 20 km/h. You'll note that you won't have access to the Get Out action until the chopper actually lands. This means you'll have to use the Eject action.

To prevent any suicidal jumping, here is how things should go (I'll reference the transported troops in each helo as a chalk from now on):
- The chalk leader (SL, higher FTL) will prepare his troops for the landing (giving them directions to watch when dismounting)
- The pilot, when approaching the LZ, will inform his cargo ("Coming onto the LZ in 45 seconds, standby". That makes it more realistic. Then the whole crew yells "Sir, YES, Sir!"). This is the signal they should get their Eject action ready.
- He should also give them the amount of time he expects to spend over the LZ (usually not more than five seconds)
- Upon getting close to the LZ, the crew chief and door gunners if available should start suppressing the hell out of everything around the LZ (this can be discussed in the case of a stealthy insertion). Watch out especially for tree lines and buildings.
- When the pilot is on the LZ, to a hover or moving insertion, he will give his cargo the eject signal ("Go, go, go" should be okay without falling into any kind of milsimmish horseshit). At this point every man in the cargo will eject, take five steps either in the direction he's facing or the direction his FTL gave him earlier, and drop to the ground. (the five steps bit is a rule of thumb. What's important is to end up on an approximative line with the other soldiers so you don't shoot them in the leg / get shot in the arm, and to drop down so you don't take fire from the crew chief and his machinegun). The cargo leader should wait around one second, to be sure he's the last one to get out and so should the door gunner if he is part of the assaulting troop.
- If the LZ is taking fire, dismounts should start returning fire immediately.
- As soon as the cargo is empty, the crew chief (if there's one and he can see the cargo seats, if not, the chalk leader will take that role) will give the pilot the "All out" signal. The helo then gain speed and get out.
- The crew chief can now stop suppressing the LZ.

If anybody missed his eject button/was sleeping and did not get out before the five seconds, he is trapped inside the helicopter. He will then be shipped back at base and executed by party officials for treason.

Alright... I guess this makes sense. Can this be applied to all insertions?

That's a good question. As you can guess, there are some variables that can bring us to modify the procedure in some cases.

Huh. Like?

First, let's talk about the helo used.

MH-6J Littlebird

This is the smallest helo you'll encounter in arma. It can almost never sustain any kind of accurate fire. Plus, BIS having messed up the flight model a bit (forgot to convert mph into kmh), it is (in vanilla Arma, ACE fixed that) really slow (around 140 kmh max). It is very agile though, and can be landed about anywhere (especially on rooftops, in the middle of streets and in compounds).
It can carry a fireteam, plus one dude in the copilot seat.
It will be best used for hover and moving insertions, although the skids allow for a touchdown at horizontal speed up to 40 kmh without damage (on flat ground, that is. You can even go up to 70kmh on a road without too important damage, but you need to be real gentle). This can be usefull in case you overshot a bit and are coming in too fast on your LZ.
As it has no firepower, it must be used for real quick insertions (less than two seconds on site), but that's not really a problem with such a small cargo. No crewchief.
Tip: If you come under fire, orient the bottom of the chopper towards incoming rounds. That's about the only part that will actually stop them without destroying the whole thing.

UH-1H Huey and UH-1Y Venom

A bit bigger, a lot faster, but same chalk: one fireteam. The skids on this one allow for moving touchdowns too, but it is also really easy to perform a hover/moving insertion. M240 machineguns on each side allows for good suppression of the LZ surroundings. The Venom also has FFAR pods and can be used as a support/attack helo.
The crewchief cannot see the cargo space.

MI-8 and other MI-17s

Big. Fast. Heavy as a cow. I personally don't like them, cause they feel like trying to fly a rock, but they're fast and can sustain a lot of fire before dying. Plus they pack a lot of firepower (some versions have multiple rocket pods).
They can transport 16 people, which is one full squad plus an attachment.
One good other thing, the fact that the tail is fixed on the upper side of the fuselage makes it a bit easier not to smash everywhere.

MH-60S KnightHawk and UH-60M BlackHawk

They can transport up to three fireteams. (13 people)
They are quite fast, well armed (the UH-60 comes with two miniguns on the sides) and easy to fly. Beware of the huge-ass tail, which, unlike its real-life counterpart, doesn't like to be smashed down much. A moving insertion will usually be preferred. They can take quite a load of rounds, and even an RPG will not always bring it down. The gunners are pretty exposed though.

Merlin HC3

I don't know that one much. It seems pretty solid, reasonably fast and easy to fly, but is unarmed. It can take a cargo of 17 men but shouldn't really be used for air assault operations.


CH-47F Chinook (or its british counterpart)

Have you ever flown a bus? 24 people in the cargo, this one can bring a full squad and attachments, and it's the faster helo in the game (if you don't count the Osprey, of course), which makes it a really good choice for air assault ops.
It, however, is really difficult to get into a good hover. This is why, in that case, the pilot will usually choose a touchdown landing. He can often choose to only have the aft gear on the ground. This gives the crew chief and door gunner some elevation while suppressing the Area, and is mandatory in case of a pinnacle landing. The only problem with this is the guy in the copilot seat (who is actually the first guy to get in the cargo seats) may hurt himself while falling from the side door. (this can be solved by mission makers by putting an AI in that seat, or having a dedicated copilot. He can also switch to the rear gunner seat if available, and then get out).
The Chinook is highly resistant, well armed and will take a lot before going down, as long as the pilot is not killed. It is also very big and usually won't fare well in tight LZs, unless the pilot is very skilled.

Ok, so, no hovering with a Chinook. Anything else?

As a infantry-man, that's all you need.
Eject (and not get out) immediately on the pilot signal, 5 steps, drop down, return fire.

As a pilot, though, there are other considerations, to make it work.
First, you don't need to be a really good pilot. We don't strive for excellence here.
Though there are some points you should master:
- NOE (Nap Of the Earth) flight. In most cases on arma maps, flying low and fast is the only way to get from one point to another without getting shot down. Flying low doesn't mean flying two meters off the ground at all times though, and being under 25 meters is usually sufficient. You don't want to make a stupid picturesque move and kill your cargo, but you want to take advantage of the terrain to get cover and concealment.
- Ability to bleed speed under 10 km/h without popping skyhigh (means no autohover to stop) and without getting to the LZ too slow. Might as well paint a huge bullseye on the side of your ride.
For the same reason, you don't want to stop above your LZ and then descend slowly over it. You need to get there at the right altitude, the descending and speed bleeding being simultaneous.
- Mind your Tail! In very tight zones, if available, have your crew chief give you information about the terrain under and behind you.
- When command issues you an LZ, take time to plan an exact touchdown point, ingress and egress routes. Use the terrain as best as you can, to cover you and your chalk.
- Don't hesitate when coming under fire, to move out to your alternate LZ. Your main concern is to keep your chopper safe.
- Do not forget to communicate with your chalk (or chalk lead): They need to know when to eject, and where they'll do. Using group VON to communicate with your crew chief, and TS/Mumble to communicate with your chalk is probably the best option, as it doesn't need switching channels.

Any tactic considerations?

Tactics regarding air assault will vary for each operation. The commander should mainly focus on giving the LZs as soon as possible in his plan, so that the pilots can study the terrain properly and decide on touchdown points. He should also provide for alternate locations in case the LZ is compromised.
Whenever planning "on the fly", he should expect his pilots to take some time to prepare their flight, and still provide alternate LZs if possible.

• Is the LZ feasible - Don't let ego get the better of you
• Which is the best approach - Keep sheltered from fire when possible, which approach allows for the smoothest and safest landing
• Which route are you going to fly - which valleys are safe to fly down, keep ridges between you and hostiles
• Which way are you going to fly out - You might be required to stay in one piece for later.

• Approach slightly off to the side, a sharpish turn close to your objective helps lose a lot of speed without gaining height, it also means you can see the LZ.
• If in doubt go down tail first, it is less disastrous than nose first and will reduce slide on landing.
• Don't hang around. Get away from the LZ to keep the bird safe and allow infantry to hear coms.
• Maintain a smooth descent, if in doubt increase throttle on the way down a little, tapping Q to slow your descent. Getting too eager with your Z key can easily crock your chopper

• Place a few map markers to help with your approach. You likely have a gps (right ctrl + M) so you can see markers as you approach, use different markers for distances so if you get to that exclamation mark, you know you are close.
• Low and slow is fine if you are unsure, as long as the area is safe. If taking fire, try to get into a low hover so people can dismount (auto-hover can help a lot with this) then take off as soon as everyone is clear. Or Bug out and try somewhere else.
• Hostile MGs can really hurt choppers, if you are getting pinged, drop height if you can to gain speed and do the occasional banked turn, (try to avoid losing speed as their fire will catch up with you).
• Talk to passengers about your surroundings. If there is chatter in vehicle chat don't be afraid to ask for quiet so people can talk you down or let you know about threats etc.