Airborne Warfare: C-27J Engine Running Offload: 463L Pallets

One of the lessons learned saving the surrounded marines at the Khe Sanh Fire Base (Vietnamspeak for Forward Operating Base or "FOB") was that these ungrateful grunts would not be able to keep enemy long-range M46 130mm and 122mm rocket artillery out of range with their direct-fire gunslinging mentality--the same mistake the French made at Dien Bien Phu--except the USAF and Army was on-hand to save the gyrenes in 1968 not the French in 1954.

http://www.combatreform.com/fries.htm

The only long-range 175mm guns we had were on self-propelled tracks, but too heavy to fly-in to a small FOB by even a C-130 and the marines on-the-ground as foot sloggers fighting M16 vs. AK47 & RPG were too weak to prevent the NVA from ambushing the 175mm SPHs so they were stuck at Camp Carroll.

Fortunately, USAF airmen and Army Riggers were able to parachute drop enough supplies to prevent the marines from starving and being over-run by the NVA diversionary siege on Khe Sanh. When the real Tet offensive attack took place all over the South Vietnamese countryside, Army General Weyand and civilian advisor John Paul Vann

http://www.combatreform.com/johnpaulvann.htm

were ready and sent-in M113 Gavin ACAV-mobile units that went cross-country avoiding road ambushes to overwhelm the Cong and NVA with superior armored firepower to save Tan Son Nhut airbase and retake Saigon back from the Viet Cong guerrillas sent in on suicide missions on orders from Hanoi in the North.

http://www.combatreform.com/m113combat.htm

Once it was safe to airland onto Khe Sanh's airstrip, USAF C-130s and C-123s could do engine running offloads (EROs): as the plane taxis; the rear ramp goes down and 463L pallets are pushed off onto the ground, reducing exposure time--especially if JATO rockets are attached to prevent having to taxi back to an upwind take-off position with the whole runway.

http://www.combatreform.com/c130.htm
http://www.combatreform.com/assaultzone.htm

The C-27J is a high technology, small FOB runway functional replacement for the C-123 Providers (see film, "Air America") and CV-2/C-7 Caribous we used to have.

Another improvement today is in the pallets themselves: if the SeaBox ECDS pallet and/or the AIP plastic liner is used, rough terrain forklifts could rapidly converge on the pallets as the C-27J drops them and remove them off to the side, so the runway is clear to take-off again; reducing exposure time on the ground and improving MOG rate.

http://www.combatreform.com/abnlogistics.htm

Non-linear warfare requires NON-LINEAR logistics and the C-27J gets the job done.

Want to know more about 3D Airborne Maneuver Warfare?

Our book, "Air-Mech-Strike: Asymmetric Maneuver Warfare for the 21st Century" is ONLINE for FREE skyjacked by Google!

http://books.google.com/books?id=RCWtHnYZ0LMC&pg

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• C-27J
• 463L
• ECDS
• pallets
• STOL
• logistics
• khe
• sanh

[ambientflier]

Is it wrong that I found this extremely funny?

[lightningspeed111]

@raphamar80 camp caroll wasn't big enough for a air strip.I was there 1968-1969

[raphamar80]

u can start a revolucion with that