I'm not sure if i am posting this in the right forum but i figure there are a lot of military guys in here,  I am watching Black Hawk Down and was wondering how we transport helicopters to foreign country's like Somolia or Afganistan.  I guess you could fly them and just refuel a lot but that seems impractical.
Thanks for the help

Remove rotors of black hawk, put in C5, or now, even the c-17.  I believe even the ch47 can fit in a c-5.

The ch-47E's can be in-flight refueled.  But that would be way too much flight time.  

Remember, helicoptors don't fly, they BEAT the air into submission.

WL

ps, you can also load them on the back of a flatbed trailer.

Whenever I deployed with the salad-shooters (MH53s) the mechanics took the blades off and stuffed them in C-5s.  Army probably does the same.  Maybe on C17s now.

Eddie

Well, it depends on the field providing service locally. If the runway is big and thick enough, you can fit 5 UH-60s (Blackhawks) in a USAF C-5 cargo plane. And I think only 2 or 3 in a C-17. But they can also be flown with refuel as you said (very rarely) or shipped over on a barge or (again rarely) aricraft carrier.

Thanks for the quick replys, i figured they flew them in planes since the flight time would be so bad in a helicopter.

... We fold blades and remove the mast mounted millimeter wave antenna to fit six in a C-5 or five in a C-17

Don't assume that they are all air refuelable.  Few are, in the Army mostly only in 160th SOAR.

Hard to hop a chopper across the Atlantic, much less the Pacific, with short legs and lots of water between gas stations.

The ones in the movie were flown in in USAF cargo aircraft.  

Oh, the memories...

Flying on a CH-47D Chinook from Simmons Army Airfield at Ft. Bragg, NC over to Pope AFB.

Doing a C-5 teardown(including, but not limited to: removing all the blades and the aft pylon & rotor head, collapsing the landing gear, and de-fueling the bird) on said CH-47D and then stuffing it into a C-5.

Flying on the C-5 with the 'hook down to Charleston, SC.

Removing the 'hook from the C-5 & putting all the pieces back together. Re-pressurizing the landing gear. Doing a "rig" to make sure all the controls are right. Phasing the rotor system so the blades "mesh"(don't hit each other when in flight). Doing a "vibe" check to make sure there's no excessive shimmy in the transmissions(there's 5 of them) or driveshafts.

When all this is done, then you board the CH-47D Chinook and fly from Charleston back to Simmons Army Airfield at Ft. Bragg, NC. The whole way back, you're hoping that you & the other mechanics did everything right.

All this is done in a 24 to 36 hour period with only a catnap here & there to keep you going.

What a monumental pain in the a$$...glad I ain't gotta do that again...

We generally deployed the aircraft from C-5's.  It's the fastest and quickest way, as less has to be torn down.  The 160th has aircraft already configured for air transport, so when the ballon goes up, they just land a C-5, load, and leave.

We also would go by sea depending on the mission.  The aricraft is broken down, shrink-wrapped, and loaded on cargo vessels, then reassembled on the other side.  Takes more time, but you can also move alot of sircraft more efficiently.

We also took directly off aircraft carriers.  The 1st Cav deployed to Vietnam off an aircraft carrier.  The 101st deployed off a carrier for a Reforger back in the 70's.  The 82nd flew off a Navy carrier in Haiti.  The Kitty Hawk was avaialable for Army Aviation this time around for Afghanistan.  160th aircraft routinely operate off of seaborne platforms.  

As a rule, Army aricraft don't deploy as easily as USN/USMC aircraft, because of design.  They are primarily desgined to do what they do once they are there at the theater, not as regular, everyday use.  It results in cheaper, lighter, and less complicated aircraft, but in recent years, it's been farily recognized that the Army needs more deployabble aircraft.

Originally the UH-60 and AH-64 were to be deployable in C-130, without any disassembly.  That was the bill of goods sold to Congress, but the real world is always different, and that's not what we have.

Ross