Pakistan has requested helicopters for rescue and relief efforts. I understand these are big helicopters that can take lot of people and goods so good for this kind of situation.
My question is so what does Pakistan army has for such needs during a war? In a war you have your wounded troops to pick up and in a terain like Kahsmir you need to deliver supplies and even insert troops in using helicopters. How do they expect to fight a war in this terrain if they can’t deliver and pick up wounded civlians in peaceful times?
Am I missing something?
I am sure situaiton is not probably any better on Indian side but my question is how do these two “super” wreslters plan to fight and win in Kashmiri terrain? khoteyaN naal?
ChanMahi,
This disaster hit the entire upper half of the country simultaneously levelling villages upon villages, cities upon cities causing loss of life around 40000 at once. In Wars, this doesnt happen, unless it's a nuclear one. In wars there are diff fronts with diff nos of soldiers fighting in diff conditions and so nature of casualties is also versatile. for intsance in one battle of a war say 100 soldiers of a battallion of 850 are wounded or martyred, based upon their conditionn they are first treated by a medic with each company, then taken back to a forward medical camp, after that taken back to a medical HQ, if still reqd more attn taken back to the city and the militray hospital, now during this time if there are serious cases that require immediate transportation choppers can be used as they are more than available within each brigade at short notice. so in wars casualties dont come in thoudsands all at once spread over an area of thousands of sq Kms and thus the number of choppers that the army/navy/PAF have are more than enough for their use, in normal days aswell as in chaotic battle situations requiring helis to take part in combat or airlift the casualties.
this destruction has been massive and even the worlds largest chopper fleet would have reqd more squadrons to access remote areas.
HZ, I am not saying anyone..anyone in the world can lift off 2 million or more people from remote mountains with in days or even provide them food for that matter in few days. It is not just possible no matter how may cargo helicopters or planes you have.
My point is all we have heard so for is Pakistan had 4 helicopters for this effort and hence wanted more from US for help. In war I agree casualities are not in thousands in a day..although on some days might be...but difficulty in operation to get to these wounded in the field is many folds more than earthquake situation. In earth quake you don't have to worry about the enemy fire atleast.
I don't see how India and Pakistan can fight a full fledged war on the mountains of Kashmir other than doing shelling on each other from their secure positions. They simply don't have the logistics to do it. Their bellies are exposed by this earthquake.
only other explaination is they do have helicopters, tents and other stuff but it is kept reserved for war only. in that case mullahs in NWFP are right...fauj has helicopters to fire in Wana but not to deliver food in Muzaffarabad.
Actually Pakistan has about 20 - 25 Heavy lift Choppers. 12 - 15 Army, 3 - 5 PAF and 3 - 5 Navy. The Army also has a few Hueys but those aren't considered Heavy Lift. Some of these choppers also have limitations wrt their ceiling. The Army uses Aluette's for Mountainous terrain.
As for the other part of your question, I think someone has already stated correctly that this is devastation on a scale unheard of in Pakistan.
Also, you have to consider that there is a downtime to some of these choppers.
Thats about 40-50 helicopters. Im not too good with armed forces’ logistics but this number seems to be a bit too dry for a whole country. Or maybe watching too many Hollywood movies (or video games) we’ve come to expect a country’s armed forces to have a couple thousand helicopters atleast.
Moving war materiel by air is a slow job. Ground transport is more efficient by a factor of 100:1, in terms of weight moved, fuel consumed, and labor to move. Air, specifically helicopers, are reserved for only the highest priority missions, or very light and fast assaults.
if they started using helicopters for earthquake relief, we wud have channmahis from indian army declaring war on Pakistan in no time…aren’t emergency situations exactly the right time to attack?
^ The thought did cross my mind but Indians arent stupid enough to do such a thing especially when all of the international media's focus is still on the subcontinent.
On a general note, i am very optimistic about Pak/India staying in stalemate almost forever and a major war never breaking out. I hope my optimism doesnt go unrewarded.
