Page 63 - Combat Aircraft (January 2020)

to co-ordinate the support of various Unit Home base Start End Arrival port Departure port
American ministries and o cials, such 10th Mountain Fort Drum, March 2017 October Bremerhaven Rotterdam
as the security of this part of the port, Division New York October 2017
1st Cavalry
supplied by Belgian soldiers, but also Division Fort Hood, Texas 2017 June 2018 Zeebrugge Zeebrugge
the supply of fuel and re safety for 4th Infantry Fort Carson, Texas July 2018 January Rotterdam Rotterdam
the unloaded US Army equipment in Division 2019
our harbor.’ 1st Infantry Fort Riley, Kansas January October Zeebrugge Rotterdam
Division
2019
2019
On average, 80 helicopters are shipped 3rd Infantry October
for an OAR deployment, and they are Division Hunter AAF, Georgia 2019 July 2020 Zeebrugge -
o oaded at one of the major ports
in Europe. In order to test di erent
logistical routes and the capacity of
European ports, the US Army has moved
equipment through Bremerhaven,
Rotterdam and Zeebrugge on previous
deployments, with Alexandropoulos and
Volos in Greece having handled a small
number of helicopters as well. The vast
ARC (American roll-on, roll-o carrier)
Endurance is able to accommodate
and disgorge all of the helicopters in a
single day — they typically consist of 12
CH-47F Chinooks, 24 AH-64E Apaches,
38 UH-60 Black Hawks and 12 HH-60
medevac Black Hawks. Once o oaded,
the aircraft are immediately readied
for a short ight to a nearby staging
airport for a so-called ‘tech stop’ before
continuing on to their destination eld.
This rotation is slightly unusual in that
the CAB only unloaded eight AH-64Ds,
four CH-47Fs and 25 UH-60/HH-60s at
Zeebrugge, with a second shipment
heading for Volos to support the major
e ort in Bulgaria and Romania. These
assets will then gradually move north
into central Europe in order to take part
in ‘Defender Europe 20’ during April and
May — the largest planned deployment
of US-based forces to the area in the
past 25 years.

Top to bottom:
The 3rd CAB
takes in three
fl ying battalions
including 2-3
Avn that fl ies the
UH-60L (seen
here), UH-60M
and CH-47F.
Having been
offl oaded, the
helicopters are
readied for a short
fl ight to a nearby
airfi eld.
AH-64D serial
07-07046 of
3-17 Cav on the
dockside at
Zeebrugge.

www.Key.Aero // January 2020 63

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