Hellfire

Ed Macy

• Publisher: HarperPress
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9780007288199
• eBook ISBN:
  9780007342921
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: History

He launched the weapon that changed a war.

May 2006. Ed Macy arrives in Afghanistan along with the Apache AH Mk 1 on its first operational tour. It's an unfamiliar combat zone with a limited role for the Apache and Ed's time is spent escorting Chinooks. But one month later, during Operation Mutay, with 3 Para pinned down in Helmand, the arguments about the Apache's potential are thrown out and Ed deploys the first ever Hellfire missile in combat.

That squeeze of the trigger changed the war for the British and the Taliban alike. The £4.2bn Apache programme was dramatically redirected to fighting the enemy head-on and turned Ed and his squadron into one of the British Army's greatest assets.

Ed recounts the intense months that followed Mutay: the steep learning curve, the new missions, the evolving enemy and the changing Rules of Engagement. He also sheds light on his early career as a young paratrooper, his operational baptism as a pilot and how both shaped his ability to fly, fight and survive during that fateful first Afghanistan tour against a cunning and ruthless enemy.

It was here, in the dusty wastes of Helmand that Ed, his colleagues and the Apache found themselves on trial for their lives and for the reputation of a machine on which the British government had staked a fortune. The crucible of fire that awaited them in Helmand would cement the fate of man and machine forever.

INDEX

The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use the search feature of your e-book reader.

Entries in italics indicate maps, photographs or illustrations.

EM indicates Ed Macy.

ABFAC (Airborne Forward Air Controller) 68-71

Afghan National Army (ANA) 145, 146, 168, 333

Afghan National Police (ANP) 145, 146, 168, 179, 188, 201, 299-300, 301, 333, 338, 339, 363

Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) 168, 339, 344

Afghanistan:

British Army bases in see under individual base name

British Army objectives in 145-7

British Army operations in see under individual operation name

climate 157, 165-6, 211, 214, 215, 357

map of xiii

narcotics trade within 146, 147, 227, 333, 392

reconstruction of 145-6, 147, 154, 392

smell of 157, 158, 159

see also under individual area and place name

air support 200, 233, 341

A-10 166, 234, 236

Apache see Apache WAH-64D

B1B 4, 154, 166, 253, 254, 260, 355, 360, 362

B-2 95

C-17 161, 162

C-130 95, 156, 177

Chinook, CH-47 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 97, 129, 130, 132, 147, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 181, 183, 194, 195, 196-7, 199, 200, 202, 203, 212, 226, 253, 255, 258, 259, 260, 265, 290, 292, 293, 295, 296, 298, 299, 300, 330, 333, 338, 340, 341, 345, 346

Close Air Support (CAS) 324, 341, 342

Gazelle 33, 36, 37, 38, 46, 47, 51, 53, 55, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62-3, 64, 65, 68, 70, 76, 77, 79, 80, 81, 85, 89, 90, 91, 97, 118, 120, 147

Harrier 166, 269, 286, 355

Intimate Support 325, 341, 370

Lockheed T-33 Shooting Stars 69, 70, 71-2, 73, 74

Lynx 4, 46, 62, 79, 83, 84, 86-7, 89, 90, 91, 96, 130, 198, 289

Aliu Za’I 201

Al-Qaeda 104, 146

Al-Sadr, Muqtada 128

anti-aircraft guns/gunners xx, 13-16, 90, 91, 132-3, 184, 298-31, 337, 392

Apache AH64A 46-8, 89, 103-4, 119

Apache AH64D 89

Apache WAH-64D:

air-conditioning 106, 197, 202, 218, 309, 351, 366, 381

auxiliary power unit (APU) 115, 116, 197, 198, 201, 212, 213, 242, 263, 264, 268, 270, 286, 350, 351

‘bag’ flying in 117, 120-5, 136, 190

Boresight Reticule Unit (BRU) 100, 116

cannon, 30mm Hughes M230

Automatic Chain gun 10, 11, 12, 106-7, 162, 203, 218, 238, 239, 240, 248, 277, 278, 281-2, 283, 312, 315, 325, 360, 364, 385

Counter Measures Dispensing System (CMDS) 224-5, 228

CRV7 rocket 107, 109, 162

Data Transfer Cartridge (DTC) 264

Direct View Optics (DVO) 102

DTV camera 102, 103, 112, 177, 178, 378, 379, 380

‘dynamic harmonisation’ 162, 163-4, 266, 346, 364

effect on role of helicopters in British Army 88-9

EM first launches 137-43

engines, Rolls-Royce 66, 114, 116, 163, 223

EW self-protection capabilities 94-6, 224-5, 228

Fire Control Radar (FCR) 8, 101, 103, 106, 116, 226-7, 231, 309, 353

flares 92, 254, 263

Flechette 107, 108-9, 111, 263, 266, 337, 380-1, 386

Flight Reference Cards 265

Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) system 102, 103, 112, 119-20, 121, 268, 294, 302, 323, 357, 358, 378, 379, 380

fuel load 212, 217, 219, 225, 229, 230, 232, 250, 251-2, 327, 371, 388

Head-Mounted Display (HMD) 248, 377

HEDP rounds 106-7, 240, 248, 359, 383, 388

Helicopter Integrated Defensive Aids Systems (HIDAS) 94, 95, 132, 364

High Explosive Incendiary Semi-Armour Piercing (HEISAP) 107, 108, 111, 263, 382, 383, 386, 388

Hellfire missile see Hellfire missile

IDM - Improved Data Modem 350, 353, 369

Image Auto-Track (IAT) 142, 320, 321, 322

Improved Extended Forward Avionics Bay (IEFAB) 269

inspection of, pre-flight 114-15

ISTAR 100

Laser Warning Receiver System (LWRS) 94-5

lift off 219-21

loading/starting 209-11, 212-19

Longbow radar 89, 101, 109, 163, 226, 231, 269, 317

M261 rocket launchers 107

MAWS 94

MOD buy 46, 47, 66

monocle display 100, 115, 116, 119-20, 121, 126, 220, 225, 231, 305, 310, 329, 377, 384

Multi-Purpose Display (MPD) 7, 9, 47, 48, 95, 101, 103, 112, 119, 125, 126, 177, 225, 226, 227, 229, 231, 237, 238, 240, 244, 248, 265, 268, 276, 278, 314, 320, 351, 354, 360, 379, 381

Multi-Purpose-Sub-Munition (MPSM) 107-8, 111

ORT (Optical Relay Tube) 47-8, 102, 103, 106, 112, 127, 141, 353, 389, 390

Pilot’s Night Vision System (PNVS) 100, 121, 124, 134, 213, 298, 300, 379, 386

Pinvis (TADS thermal image) 101, 102, 121

port view xxiv-xxv

Power Margin Indicator 230

preliminary flight checks 115

press and 171

Qualified Helicopter Instructor (QHI) 92

radios 215-16, 217, 264, 265, 269, 299, 366, 372

RWR receivers 94

secure datalink 101

simulator 120, 125-7, 128

size of 114

stabilator 264, 305

starboard view xxvi-xxvii

survivability of 127

tail wheel 263-4

Target Acquisition and Designation Sight (TADS) 7, 9, 10, 11, 100, 101, 102, 103, 106, 109, 112, 141, 152, 169, 175, 176, 180, 213, 235, 237, 238, 248, 255, 268, 274, 276, 277, 278, 283, 290, 304, 306-7, 310, 314, 315, 316, 320, 322, 323, 328, 352, 368, 369, 378, 379, 380, 381, 382, 387, 394

torque 219, 220, 222, 223, 224, 227

training course, British Army 98-130

UFD (Up Front Display) 211, 220

Area of Responsibility (AOR) xv, 131, 187, 199, 286, 299

Arming and Loading Point Commander 209

armoured vehicles:

armoured personnel carriers (APCs) 38

light armoured vehicles (LAVs) 353

Pinzgauer 201, 332

Scimitar 332, 353

Spartan 332

Striker armoured fighting vehicle 75

WMIKs 178, 180, 195, 201, 332, 366

Augustus, Operation 257

‘baffles’ 92

Baxter, Mick 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41

Bell Cobra 47, 88, 89

Benzie, Nichol 194, 195, 197, 291, 293

Bin Laden, Osama 131

Blair, Tony 104, 145, 146

blue-on-blue (friendly fire incident) 162, 164

BO105 (helicopter) 89

Bonn, Dickie 192, 194, 198, 204, 205, 290, 292

Bosnia 104

British Army:

Afghanistan bases see under

individual base name

Afghanistan objectives 145-7

Afghanistan operations see under individual operation name

Aldershot base, Hampshire 13-22

Catterick Camp, Yor...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Prologue
• Air Attack, Air Attack
• Arrested and Tested
• Skylined With No B Ackup
• Chopp Er Palmer' S Wings
• Booby-trapped In Northern Ireland
• Bombing Freddie Mercury
• Facing Tommo
• One On One
• The Hunter
• The Killer
• Learning To Fly - Learning To Fight
• Dusty Hellfire
• Mo Ose Time
• Wildman Of Helmand
• Visiting The Shrine
• The 7 Ps
• Go-go-go
• Late
• Embarrassingly Late
• Operation Mutay
• Signed, Sealed and Delivered
• Scramble
• Broken Arrow
• The Plan
• The Anti-aircraft Gunner
• Hellfire
• Siege
• Operation Snakebite
• Sniper Team
• Epilogue
• Afterword
• Glossary of Terms
• Acknowledgements
• Index
• About the Publisher