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" Helicopter missions are vital in Afghanistan, where the lack of roads makes every route vulnerable to ambush and improvised explosive devices. Without helicopters, Afghan government hopes of extending their influence outside large cities are slim. For that reason, the U.S. has made operating helos (Russian-made, bought by the United States) a focus for the Afghan military, helping the government expand its reach and counter Taliban insurgents. It has been a slow road\u2014helicopters require lots of maintenance, pilot training, and operational planning to be effective. The uses make the trouble worthwhile\u2014medical evacuations, recon flights, and air support give an advantage to any force with rotorcraft in their arsenal. Afghan pilots already conduct these missions but have just completed their first air assault. Those combat operations, which deploy infantry by helicopter for tactical surprise, are among the most complex to coordinate and complete.  In 2009, PM reported on the first Afghan-planned air assault in eastern Afghanistan. The Afghans planned it, and their troops participated, but under the strict oversight of American planners. More importantly, the mission required U.S. pilots and aircraft. The mission showcased the lack of preparedness among many Afghan troops. (For a sense of how air assaults are conducted, and how the Afghans were trained how to do them, click here.) Now it&amp;#039;s 2012, and just last week, an Afghan air unit based in Kandahar conducted its first independent air assault. It&amp;#039;s hard to say how the operation went. One U.S. officer noted that the air crews &amp;quot;reacted well to some unexpected landing conditions,&amp;quot; which could mean anything from dust kicked up by rotorwash to an unexpected grade of the landing zone. Also, U.S. OH-58 Kiowa helos provided overwatch, helping air-to-air communications and making sure the landing zone was safe from threats (known as the cherry/ice call.) So it was not totally independent, but the planning, the flights, the loading and the unloading were done by Afghans. This is all harder than it sounds: If coordination is not solid, helicopters can crash, troops can be injured, and the Taliban has another success in the public eye (there and aboard.) Time and training are the biggest assets in building a military force. The Afghans have had years of training. But with an expected U.S. pullout looming, time appears to be running out. Whether the government troops can really operate on their own is yet to be seen. The air assault can only be viewed as a small step in the right direction. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a11945/afghan-aviators-make-their-own-air-assault-why-it-matters/>