The Arkansas NationalGuard sent some to Louisiana.
Do they fly them down about 400 miles and send their support on a C-130, or truck the Apaches and their support?
Apaches? I hope they aren’t sending gunships yet.
I think they are Apaches; maybe that’s all we have.
Are you sure it wasn’t a Blackhawk?
That would certainly make more sense. I heard it on the radio, so I can’t get a cite.
Whatever.
Do they fly them down or truck them?
I have a friend who flies Apaches in the guard. He says they will fly them down.
Yes, my bad, they are Blackhawks
But how do they get there?
Thanks!
Who provides support, and how?
A combination of Air National guard and active-duty and Air Force Reserve transports. I’ve seen C-130s, C-17s and C-5s at various locations over the past few days.
It’s all being coordinated through the TACC (Tanker Airlift Control Center) located at Scott AFB, IL. There are several things going on: mobilized Guard units need support (maintenance personnel, parts, etc) and the victims need relief (not only food and water but shelters, medical supplies, etc). The TACC plans all this out and allocates assets (ie airplanes). They might send a C-17 from Charleston AFB, SC to a National Guard base in Kentucky where it loads up spare parts for the unit’s Blackhawk helicopters. It flies them to the new location (probably not New Orleans Louis Armstrong Intl airport, but somewhere close like Keesler AFB, MS). After offloading there the C-17 might fly to wherever food/water are stored and then take those supplies to New Orleans. Anything in New Orleans that needs to leave gets loaded on the aiplane and goes to its destination.
Multiply this by the hundreds and you get a picture of what is going on every day.
Well, you need not put any ammo on them. Load them up with extra fuel tanks, maybe some hardpoint-mounted emergency kits to be dropped to people in the city (if such things exist, I don’t know either way). You could just use them to fly around and look for people with the infrared equipment they carry. Once they find someone, they can call in a transport to pick them up directly.
Afterall, more eyes can allways be helpful in this kind of situation.