Combat Aviation Brigade

A Combat aviation brigade (CAB) is a multi-functional brigade-sized unit in the United States Army that fields military helicopters, offering a combination of attack helicopters (AH-64 Apache), reconnaissance helicopters (OH-58 Kiowa), medium-lift helicopters (UH-60 Black Hawk), heavy-lift helicopters (CH-47 Chinook), and MEDEVAC capability.

History

Combat Aviation Brigades (CABs) were introduced during the transformation of the United States Army to a modular force. There were three types of combat aviation brigades.

Heavy combat aviation brigades

Medium combat aviation brigades

10th Combat Aviation Brigade (United States)

The Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division is a combat aviation brigade of the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. It is a subordinate unit of the 10th Mountain Division.

Reactivated in 1988, the 10th Mountain Division's Combat Aviation Brigade supported the division as it undertook numerous operations and overseas contingencies in the 1990s, including Operation Restore Hope, Operation Uphold Democracy, and Task Force Eagle, as well as disaster relief following Hurricane Andrew. The brigade has since become involved in the War on Terrorism, seeing four deployments to Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom and a deployment to Iraq to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. The brigade is currently on its fourth deployment to Afghanistan and is serving in Regional Command - East under Combined Joint Task Force 101 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Organization

The Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division comprises five principal battalions under the command of its Headquarters and Headquarters Company. The brigade commands 1st, 2nd, 3rd Battalions, 10th Aviation Regiment, and 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, which operate a number of aircraft including UH-60 Black Hawks, AH-64 Apaches, CH-47 Chinooks, and OH-58 Kiowas. In addition, the 277th Aviation Support Battalion provides supporting services to the combat battalions when they are deployed, making the brigade capable of operating independently of higher command headquarters, and capable of taking on additional battalions and other, smaller units when deployed, as necessary.

Brigade

A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division.

Brigades formed into divisions are usually infantry or armored (sometimes referred to as combined arms brigades). In addition to combat units, they may include combat support units or sub-units, such as artillery and engineers, and logistic units or sub-units. Historically, such brigades have sometimes been called brigade-groups. On operations, a brigade may comprise both organic elements and attached elements, including some temporarily attached for a specific task.

Brigades may also be specialized and comprise battalions of a single branch, for example cavalry, mechanized, armored, artillery, air defence, aviation, engineers, signals or logistic. Some brigades are classified as independent or separate and operate independently from the traditional division structure. The typical NATO standard brigade consists of approximately 3,200 to 5,500 troops. However, in Switzerland and Austria, the numbers could go as high as 11,000 troops. The Soviet Union, its forerunners and successors, mostly use "regiment" instead of brigade, and this was common in much of Europe until after World War II.

Aviation

Aviation is the practical aspect or art of aeronautics, being the design, development, production, operation and use of aircraft, especially heavier than air aircraft. The word "aviation" was coined by French writer and former naval officer Gabriel La Landelle in 1873, from the verb "avier" (synonymous flying), itself derived from the Latin word "avis" ("bird") and the suffix "-ation".

History

Early beginnings

There are early legends of human flight such as the story of Icarus in Greek myth and Jamshid in Persian myth, and later, somewhat more credible claims of short-distance human flights appear, such as the flying automaton of Archytas of Tarentum (428–347 BC), the winged flights of Abbas Ibn Firnas (810–887), Eilmer of Malmesbury (11th century), and the hot-air Passarola of Bartholomeu Lourenço de Gusmão (1685–1724).

Lighter than air

The modern age of aviation began with the first untethered human lighter-than-air flight on November 21, 1783 of a hot air balloon designed by the Montgolfier brothers. The practicality of balloons was limited because they could only travel downwind. It was immediately recognized that a steerable, or dirigible, balloon was required. Jean-Pierre Blanchard flew the first human-powered dirigible in 1784 and crossed the English Channel in one in 1785.

United States Army

The United States Army (USA) is the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces and performs land-based military operations. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution, Article 2, Section 2, Clause 1 and United States Code, Title 10, Subtitle B, Chapter 301, Section 3001. As the largest and senior branch of the U.S. military, the modern U.S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army, which was formed (14 June 1775) to fight the American Revolutionary War (1775–83)—before the U.S. was established as a country. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784, to replace the disbanded Continental Army. The United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775.