Talon Strike
About 250 soldiers from the 11th Aviation Regiment in Illesheim, Germany, began their first aerial gunnery qualification 02 March 2002 in the Czech Republic. The exercise, dubbed "Talon Strike," took place at the Hradiste Range Complex through March 26. Conducting aerial gunnery qualification at Hradiste provided each gunnery crew an opportunity to assess and verify its precision and skills in unfamiliar terrain, V Corps officials said. The unit's AH-64 Apache helicopter crews are scheduled to conduct live-fire gunnery and night firing.
The 2nd Squadron, 6th U.S. Cavalry is always scouting for a new training environment. It means new terrain for helicopter crews and offers a fresh, realistic approach for aerial gunnery qualification. Czech allies have been very supportive throughout the entire planning phase.
The primary logistic and force protection support for the mission was provided by a group of task forces totaling more than 100 soldiers. Those soldiers will come from three V Corps units - the 3rd Corps Support Command's 7th Corps Support Group and 7/159th Aviation Intermediate Maintenance Battalion, and the 18th Military Police Brigade. A small task force from V Corps' 30th Medical Brigade, with two UH-60 Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopters, provided medical support.
The soldiers, 21 Apache helicopters, two Black Hawk helicopters, approximately 80 vehicles and other exercise equipment deployed from Germany to the Czech Republic by air, ground and rail.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
