Counter-insurgency aircraft or COIN aircraft are a specialized variety of military light attack aircraft, designed for counter-insurgency operations, [1] armed reconnaissance, air escort of ground forces, and ground support against "low-intensity engagements"; usually irregular groups of insurgents armed with aircraft artillery and/or portable rockets.
Some of the roles carried out by counter-insurgency aircraft include:
For an aircraft—whether fixed-wing or rotary—to effectively carry out all these roles, it should have specification characteristics such as low loitering speed, long endurance, simplicity in maintenance, and the capability to perform short or vertical take-offs and landings from makeshift and roughly constructed runways.
The first use of counter-insurgency aircraft was in the 1920s and 1930s during some of the colonial wars, in nations like Ethiopia and Iraq. The benefits offered by even a single aircraft in tasks such as reconnaissance or strafing small groups of individuals proved immeasurable.
As the British found in Iraq in the 1920s and from some encounters within the frontiers of Pashtunistan, aircraft stripped away many of the advantages that traditional insurgents had held. It also offered a way of inflicting direct and cost-effective retaliation on the communities that supported the guerrilla. Britain was the first to use Counter-Insurgency (COIN) aircraft as one of Royal Air Force missions was policing British Empire by air. This solution was cheaper and quicker than using British Army troops to deal with trouble spots.
No special plane was developed. Regular military aircraft were used. It was not unusual for many air forces to field dual role planes: bomber and transport.
The British Empire faced guerrillas in Africa, Malaya and the Middle East. Royal Air Force had a wide range of capable aircraft available to be used, making the development of new COIN aircraft types unnecessary. Interest in the export market did result in a few COIN aircraft like the Strikemaster.
By the late 1950s, French air operations in the Algerian War was decidedly counter-insurgent in nature, with helicopters such as the Piasecki H-21 being used not only to carry infantry, but also machine guns and rocket launchers on an ad hoc basis, to reach FLN guerilla positions on otherwise inaccessible mountain ridges and peaks. France created Potez 75 ground support and counter-insurgency aircraft. It proved its worth in a combat evaluation in Algerian War and Potez received orders for 100 from the French Army, but the Potez 75 didn't survive budget cuts. [3]
In the early 1960s it was clear enough for US planners a plane would be needed for guerrilla wars in Asia or Africa. As a consequence U.S. Army tested armed versions of the YAT-37D Dragonfly, A4D-1 Skyhawk and G.91. The tests were good but the Army was prohibited from operating fixed-wing aircraft in combat. As late as the Vietnam War, counter-insurgency missions were flown by existing aeroplanes and helicopters, sometimes hastily adapted for the role, notable examples being the North American T-28 Trojan and Douglas A-1 Skyraider. Eventually, as the US budget allowed it, dedicated specialized counter-insurgency aircraft began to be produced for Vietnam war. Other countries adapted existing training planes to COIN and light attack. Examples including:
A new approach of COIN were the gunships created by the US. A gunship is an aircraft having laterally-mounted [5] heavy armaments (i.e. firing to the side) to attack ground or sea targets. [6] These gunships were configured to circle the target instead of performing strafing runs. Such aircraft have their armament on one side harmonized to fire at the apex of an imaginary cone formed by the aircraft and the ground when performing a pylon turn (banking turn). [5] [6]
In the Vietnam War, [5] the old Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport was successfully modified by the United States Air Force with side-firing Miniguns for circling attacks. It was the later and larger Lockheed AC-130 that became a notable gunship in US military aviation. These heavily armed aircraft used a variety of weapon systems, including 7.62 mm GAU-2/A Miniguns, 20 mm (0.787 in) M61 Vulcan six-barrel rotary cannons, 25 mm (0.984 in) GAU-12/U Equalizer five-barreled rotary cannons, 30 mm Mk44 Bushmaster II chain guns, 40 mm (1.58 in) L/60 Bofors autocannons, and 105 mm (4.13 in) M102 howitzers. The Douglas AC-47 Spooky, the Fairchild AC-119, [7] and the AC-130 Spectre/Spooky, [8] were vulnerable, and meant to operate only after achieving air superiority. [5] Smaller gunship designs such as the Fairchild AU-23 Peacemaker and the Helio AU-24 Stallion were also designed by the United States during the Vietnam War. These aircraft were meant to be cheap and easy to fly and maintain, and were to be given to friendly governments in Southeast Asia to assist with counter-insurgency operations, eventually seeing service with the Khmer National Air Force, Royal Thai Air Force, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force as well as limited use by the United States Air Force.
The Lockheed AC-130 gunship is a heavily armed, long-endurance, ground-attack variant of the C-130 Hercules transport, fixed-wing aircraft. It carries a wide array of ground-attack weapons that are integrated with sophisticated sensors, navigation, and fire-control systems. Unlike other modern military fixed-wing aircraft, the AC-130 relies on visual targeting. Since its large profile and low operating altitudes around 7,000 feet make it an easy target, its close air support missions are usually flown at night.
A military aircraft is any fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary military of any type. Military aircraft can be either combat or non-combat:
An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pressing the attack. This class of aircraft is designed mostly for close air support and naval air-to-surface missions, overlapping the tactical bomber mission. Designs dedicated to non-naval roles are often known as ground-attack aircraft.
The North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco is an American twin-turboprop light attack and observation aircraft. It was developed in the 1960s as a special aircraft for counter-insurgency (COIN) combat, and one of its primary missions was as a forward air control (FAC) aircraft. It can carry up to 3,200 lb (1,450 kg) of external munitions and internal loads such as paratroopers or stretchers, and can loiter for three or more hours.
A gunship is a military aircraft armed with heavy aircraft guns, primarily intended for attacking ground targets either as airstrike or as close air support.
The Cessna T-37 Tweet is a small, economical twin-engined jet trainer aircraft. It was flown for decades as a primary trainer of the United States Air Force (USAF) as well as in the air forces of several other nations.
The Douglas AC-47 Spooky was the first in a series of fixed-wing gunships developed by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War. It was designed to provide more firepower than light and medium ground-attack aircraft in certain situations when ground forces called for close air support.
The Fairchild AC-119G Shadow and AC-119K Stinger were twin-engine piston-powered gunships developed by the United States during the Vietnam War. They replaced the Douglas AC-47 Spooky and operated alongside the early versions of the AC-130 Spectre gunship.
The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, or Super Tweet, is a light attack aircraft designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Cessna.
Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. Less commonly, the term is used by extension to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft such as fast boats, using smaller-caliber weapons and targeting stationary or slowly-moving targets.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1964.
In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as aerial warfare actions—often air-to-ground actions such as strafes or airstrikes—by military aircraft against hostile targets in close proximity to friendly forces. A form of fire support, CAS requires detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement of all forces involved. CAS may be conducted using aerial bombs, glide bombs, missiles, rockets, autocannons, machine guns, and even directed-energy weapons such as lasers.
The M134 Minigun is an American 7.62×51mm NATO six-barrel rotary machine gun with a high rate of fire. It features a Gatling-style rotating barrel assembly with an external power source, normally an electric motor. The "Mini" in the name is in comparison to larger-caliber designs that use a rotary barrel design, such as General Electric's earlier 20 mm M61 Vulcan, and "gun" for the use of rifle ammunition as opposed to autocannon shells.
A rotary cannon, rotary autocannon, rotary gun or Gatling cannon, is any large-caliber multiple-barreled automatic firearm that uses a Gatling-type rotating barrel assembly to deliver a sustained saturational direct fire at much greater rates of fire than single-barreled autocannons of the same caliber. The loading, firing and ejection functions are performed simultaneously in different barrels as the whole assembly rotates, and the rotation also permits the barrels some time to cool. The rotating barrels on nearly all modern Gatling-type guns are powered by an external force such as an electric motor, although internally powered gas-operated versions have also been developed.
A pylon turn is a flight maneuver in which an aircraft banks into a circular turn, in such a way that an imaginary line projecting straight out the side of the aircraft points to a fixed point on the ground. The maneuver originated early in the 20th century in air racing.
The Commandant of Cadets is a named organization of the United States Air Force based at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Until August 2006 the commander of the 34th Training Wing was "dual-hatted" as the Commandant of Cadets at the Academy. In that month the 34th Wing became a named organization.
The Helio AU-24 Stallion was an American armed gunship, counter-insurgency, and utility transport developed for the United States Air Force. A total of 20 were built during the Vietnam War, with most of the aircraft being later sold to the Khmer Air Force.
The Light Attack/Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) or Light Air Support (LAS) program was a United States Air Force program for a new light counter-insurgency, ground attack and reconnaissance aircraft. The aircraft should be capable of finding, tracking, and attacking targets either on its own or in support of ground forces. The program formally began in July 2009 with a request for information. No request for proposal has yet been issued. Approximately 100 aircraft were expected to be ordered, but USAF has reduced the number of aircraft sought to 15 aircraft. The 15 aircraft program was focused at training pilots, not a combat mission. This program has also been called the OA-X program or the AT-X program, although the reduced scope of the LAAR program has forced the USAF to push an "OA-X" program indefinitely into the future. In late 2019, the program received renewed attention by lawmakers, who expressed their frustrations with the program's pace. A group of legislators introduced amendments to the House and Senate versions of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that would transfer control of the program to the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.
The Fairchild AU-23 Peacemaker is an American armed gunship, counter-insurgency, utility transport version of the Pilatus PC-6 Porter for the United States Air Force. A total of 35 were built under license in the United States by Fairchild Industries, for use during the Vietnam War in the early 1970s. All aircraft were later sold to the Royal Thai Air Force.
The Khmer Air Force, commonly known by its americanized acronym KAF was the air force component of the Khmer National Armed Forces (FANK), the official military of the Khmer Republic during the Cambodian Civil War between 1970 and 1975.