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.
Ramp-mounted M3M machine gun being fired from the back of a CH-53 during a test flight over the water. Photo: FN Herstal 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.
This is why the ramp-mounted 12.7-mm. machine gun is added, and why in a second stage the door guns will also be upgraded to this caliber. Although the Colonel did mention "training to use the aircraft as a gunship" this should not be interpreted as a signal that German army aviators are going on the offensive against Taliban and other opposing militant forces (doing so with a CH-53 would be foolish, anyway).
Rather, his comment again refers to measures to survive ambush situations. Because there are no other helos for the whole of ISAF's Regional Command North, the German CH-53s normally fly as a pair in order to provide mutual support and to be able to self-evacuate a downed crew.
If one aircraft would be ambushed, the second helo can come in and pretend to be a gunship, blazing away with its .50-cal. machine gun and suppressing the hostile activity in order to buy time for the first aircraft (or its crew and passengers) to reach a safe(r) location.
"The ISAF mission triggered the development of a new crew concept, including Doorgunner and ramp observer.
The low reliability of the standard MG3 under desert conditions urgently required an alternate weapon. The FN M3M was selected which will add a lot more fire power, so the next unfriendly discussion will probably be how to employ the CH-53 as a light gunship !
Initially, only the ramp will be used to carry a RMWS. Step 2 will be a side window/door installation."
There was no mentioning of any "training to use the (CH-53) aircraft as gunship" or a more agressive employment of these medium transport helicopters. Joris Janssen Lok`s comment from 20 nov is pretty close to the truth. However, the ironic hint in the original presentation to possible discussions and speculations of a new gunship role for German CH-53GS has already proven to be right.