[quote][b][url=/v3/forum/europe-14/topic/luftwaffe-allemagne-184/?post=39508#post-39508]ex-jivaro.k2[/url] a dit le 22/11/2007 à 14:39 :[/b]

[url=http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3ad10068ea-116d-41b9-b812-e22d3604566c]Germany Up-Gunning Its CH-53Gs[/url]

[quote]Germany is upgrading its Sikorsky CH-53GS heavylift tactical transport helicopters with ramp-mounted M3M .50-cal machine guns supplied by FN Herstal of Belgium.

The five CH-53s deployed with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) at Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan will likely be among the first aircraft to receive the extra armament early next year.
In a second phase, the MG-3 based 7.62-mm. machine guns mounted in the side door openings of the German CH-53s will also be replaced by the heavier-caliber (12.7-mm.) M3M machine gun.

According to Lt.Col. Rudolf Buehrmann, ops officer of Medium Transport Helicopter regiment 25 at Laupheim Army Air Field, southern Germany, the more powerful armament will require a change of tactics by the CH-53 crews which would now be able to use their aging aircraft somewhat more aggressively.

"We need to retrain to use our CH-53s more as gunships," he said at the recent Shephard-organized Heli Power conference in The Hague.

The five CH-53s at Mazar are the only helicopter assets available to ISAF's Regional Command North, which covers a vast area of nine Afghan provinces in which there are five ISAF provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) provided by lead nations Germany, Hungary, Norway and Sweden. [/quote][/quote]