Western Battlefield Helicopter Fleets Need Reorganising To Meet Current Threats, According To British Army General

摘要

Western military forces need to re-evaluate the types and numbers of helicopters they employ if they are to remain viable in countering the particular threats and challenges encountered in today's operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is the view of Major General Barney White-Spunner, General Officer Commanding 3rd (UK) Division and former commander of the UK's 16 Air Assault Brigade in Basra, Iraq. Speaking in London in February at the 2009 Air League Slessor Lecture entitled 'Helicopters in modern warfare: Panacea or passing fashion', Maj Gen White-Spunner said helicopters are essential to the West's ability to counter the polymorphous and simultaneous nature of what he termed "the hybrid battlefield". This hybrid battlefield is defined by the many and varied modes of warfare employed by its protagonists, including conventional capabilities, irregular tactics and formations, terrorist acts and criminal disorder.