Hellfire

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

1BIT: one standard 7.62 mm ball round for every one tracer round (1Ball1Tracer = 1BIT)

2i/c: second in command

30 mil: 30mm High Explosive Dual Purpose Apache cannon rounds

.50 cal: British Forces L1A1 Heavy Machine Gun – 12.7 mm (.50 inch) calibre tripod-mounted or vehicle-mounted automatic

A109: Agusta 109 helicopter used by the SAS

AA: Anti-Aircraft – known as ‘Double A’. A large calibre gun used against low-flying aircraft

AAC: Army Air Corps – corps of the British Army that operates helicopters and fixed wing aircraft

ABFAC: Airborne Forward Air Controller

ACC: Army Catering Corps

ACTI: Air Combat Tactics Instructor

AK47: Soviet assault rifle – 7.62 mm automatic

ALPC: Arming and Loading Point Commander

Altitude: Height above sea level, rather than ground level

AMTAT: Air Manoeuvre Training and Advisory Team – senior instructors with expertise in multiple disciplines who were there to train, coach and test to ensure see that the Apache was worked up to its full fighting potential prior to being declared fully operational

ANA: Afghan National Army

ANP: Afghan National Police

ANSF: Afghan National Security Force

Apache: Apache AH Mk1 – the British Army Apache Attack Helicopter – built by AgustaWestland and fitted with the Longbow radar

APC: Armoured Personnel Carrier

APU: Auxiliary Power Unit – an engine used to power up the main engines or to provide power to an aircraft on the ground

AQ: Al-Qaeda

Armée de l’Air: French Air Force

ASE: Aircraft Survival Equipment

ATO: Ammunition Technical Officer

Attack helicopter: A helicopter that is designed around being a complete weapon system, rather than a weapon system designed to fit a helicopter

B1: B1 Lancer bomber – US Air Force high altitude long-range supersonic strategic bomber

Bag, the: A blacked-out cockpit used to teach Apache pilots how to fly at night with sole reference from the monocle

Battlegroup: A battalion-sized fighting force

BATS box: BATUS Asset Tracking System Box. A transponder that transmits to the exercise controllers the exact position of a vehicle during live firing training on BATUS

BATUS: British Army Training Unit Suffield – training unit at Canadian Air Force base, Suffield, Alberta

BC: Battery Commander

BDA: Battle Damage Assessment

Bergen: Army slang for a rucksack

Berm: A man-made ridge of earth, designed as an obstacle

Bird table: A table (often strewn with maps) that all of the main players gather around to discuss and brief the details of operations

Bitching Betty: The Apache’s female cockpit voice warning system

Black brain: The black kneeboard Apache pilots fly with on their thigh that contains everything that can’t be committed to memory and may be needed instantly in flight

Bob-up box: A piece of symbology displayed in the monocle that remains fixed in space. It allows the crew to know how far they are from a self-generated known point in space they were hovering over when it was created.

Bonedome: Helmet

Brick: A term used in Northern Ireland for a four man patrol

Broken Arrow: A base or fort that has been overrun by the enemy

BRU: Boresight Reticule Unit

C-17: RAF transport plane

CAG: Combined Air Ground

Calibre: The inside diameter of the barrel of a weapon

Carbine: Short-barrelled SA80 with an additional grip at the front – used by Apache pilots and tank crews – 5.56 mm automatic

CAS: Close Air Support

Casevac: Casualty Evacuation

CH47: Chinook – a large wide-bodied helicopter with two rotors on the top. Used by many countries for carrying troops – may also carry equipment inside or underslung below.

Chicken fuel: Just enough fuel to make it back direct and land with the minimum fuel allowance

Chicken plate: Triangular armoured plate to shield the vital organs within the chest cavity from bullets and shrapnel

Chippies: De Havilland Chipmunk T10 training aircraft

Choke point: A point where a natural narrowing occurs in a route – like a bottleneck.

CMDS: Counter Measures Dispensing System

CO: Commanding Officer – Lieutenant Colonel in charge of a regiment, battalion or the Joint Helicopter Force

Collective lever: The flying control to the left-hand side of the pilot’s seat; held in the left hand; when raised the Apache climbs and when lowered it descends

ComAO: Combined Air Operation

Co-op: Co-operative rocket shoot – both of the Apache’s crew working together to fire the rockets at the target

Cow: Taliban slang for the Chinook helicopter

Crabs: Slang term for the RAF

CRV7: Canadian Rocket Vehicle 7 – the Apache’s rockets

CTAF Net: Common Tactical Air Frequency Net

CTR: Conversion To Role

CTT: Conversion To Type

Cyclic stick: The flying control between the pilot’s legs, held by the right hand and used to speed up, slow down, dive and turn the Apache

Danger close: The proximity to a weapon’s effect that is considered the last safe point when wearing body armour and combat helmet

Dasht-e-Margo: Desert of Death

DC: District Centre – the commercial/political/military centre of a particular area. Usually a building that once held power

Deliberate Operations: Preplanned operations like escort missions and deliberate strikes

Delta Hotel: Phonetic alphabet for DH – air speak for Direct Hit – call made when a weapon system hits its intended target accurately

Dfac: American Dining Facility

Dishdash: Loose kaftan-style outfit worn by many Afghan men

DoS: Days of Supply

DTV: Day television – black and white TV image generated from the day camera in the TADS

DVO: Direct View Optics

ECM: Electronic Counter Measures

ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival

ETD: Estimated Time of Departure

EWI: Electronic Warfare Instructor

Excon: Exercise Control

FAC: Forward Air Control/Controller

FARMC: Fuel, Ammunition, Rockets, Missiles, Countermeasures (farm-c)

Fast air: Offensive military jet aircraft

FCR: Fire Control Radar – the Apache’s Longbow radar

Fenestron: A tail rotor that is housed in a Venturi

FIBUA: Fighting In a Built-Up Area

Flares: Hot flares fired to attract heat-seeking missiles, luring them away from the Apache

Flechette: Five-inch tungsten darts fired from a rocket travelling above Mach 3.3

Flick: Military slang. When something has been signed over to you and you are held accountable for it

FLIR: Forward Looking Infrared – Sights that generate a thermal picture – an image produced by an object’s heat source above absolute zero

FOB: Forward Operating Base

Frag: Fragments of hot metal that break away from a shell when it explodes

FRV: Final Rendezvous point

GAFA: Great Afghan Fuck All – Dasht-e-Margo – the Desert of Death

Gazelle: British Army helicopter – generally employed for training, liaison and reconnaissance

GMPG: British Forces General Purpose Machine Gun – 7.62 mm bipod machine gun

GPS: Global Positioning System – satellite navigation equipment

Greenie tech: Nickname for an aviation technician. Aviation technicians are responsible for all electrical equipment on an aircraft

Green Zone: Lush habitation of irrigated fields, hedgerows, trees and small woods on either side of the Helmand River, bordered by arid deserts

Ground crew: People who work with aircraft when they are on the ground, but not technicians

Groundie: Military slang for ground crew

Ground school: Academic lessons on flying and all to do with flying: meteorology, law, engines, etc.

Gunship: An aircraft that has the capability of firing its cannon/s from the side instead of having to strafe head-on

Gun tape: The video tape put into an Apache that records what the selected sight sees

HALS: Hardened Aircraft Landing Strip: small runway

Harrier: British designed military jet aircraft capable of Vertical Short Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) – often called the ‘Jump Jet’

HEDP: High Explosive Dual Purpose (Hedpee) – 30 mm cannon rounds

Height: The height above the ground expressed in feet

HEISAP: High Explosive Incendiary Semi-Armour Piercing (high-sap) – kinetic rocket fired by the Apache

Hellfire: AGM-114K SAL (Semi-Active Laser) Hellfire is a laser-guided Hellfire missile fitted to the Apache

Hesco Bastion: Square metal meshed cubes lined with hessian and filled with rubble and/or sand. Used as defensive ramparts to protect bases and platoon houses from fire

H Hour: The moment offensive action begins – first bullet, bomb or the moment troops walk towards their intended target to attack

HIDAS: Helicopter Integrated Defensive Aids System – protection from SAMs

HIG: Hezb-I Islami Gulbuddin – major group of the old Mujahideen with ties to Osama bin Laden

HLS: Helicopter Landing Site

HMD: Helmet Mounted Display

Hot: Air speak for clearance or acknowledgement that live bombs can be dropped

HQ: Headquarters – the nerve centre for planning and execution of operations

HRF: Helmand Reaction Force – two Apaches and a Chinook full of soldiers on standby at Bastion used to bolster any troops on the ground quickly

IAT: Image Auto-Track

IAT: International Air Tattoo. Now RIAT (Royal International Air Tattoo)

Icom: A make of radio scanner used by coalition and the Taliban to monitor each other’s transmissions

ID: Identification

IDM: Improved Data Modem

IED: Improvised Explosive Device – home-made bombs or multiple mines strapped together

IEFAB: Improved Extended Forward Avionics Bay (eefab) The slabs that stick out either side of Longbow Apaches below the cockpits

IntO: Intelligence Officer

IOC: Initial Operating Capability

IPT: Integrated Project Team

IRA: Irish Republican Army – Northern Irish paramilitary group

IRT: Incident Response Team – Apaches, Chinooks, doctors, medics and Ammunition Technical Officer (ATO) responsible for the immediate recovery of personnel in danger or injured

ISAF: International Security Assistance Force – multinational military force in Afghanistan

ISTAR: Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance

JDAM: Joint Direct Attack Munition – inertial navigation and GPS guidance system bolted onto a 500 to 2000-lb bomb to make it an accurate all-weather weapon

JHC: Joint Helicopter Command – the UK-based command headquarters and operating authority for all British military helicopters in the UK and abroad

JHF: Joint Helicopter Force

JHF(A): Joint Helicopter Force Afghanistan – ‘Main’ at Kandahar and ‘Forward’ at Camp Bastion – the Afghanistan helicopter headquarters operating under authority of the Joint Helicopter Command (JHC)

JOC: Joint Operations Cell – the functioning control centre of operations in the Helmand province

JTAC: Joint Terminal Attack Controller (Jaytac) – soldier responsible to his commander for the deliverance of air ordnance from combat aircraft onto a target. The airspace controller for a battle, normal callsign is Widow

KAF: Kandahar Airfield

KIA: Killed In Action

Klick: military slang for kilometre

LAV: Light Armoured Vehicles. Canadian 8x8 wheeled Armoured Personnel Carrier

Leakers: Taliban that are attempting to escape (leak) from a target area

L-Hour: The moment the first helicopter lands on an LS during an operation

Lima Charlie: Phonetic alphabet for LC – air speak for Loud and Clear

Loadie: Loadmaster responsible for passengers and equipment in military troop-carrying helicopters or transport aircraft. Often mans one of the crew-served guns

LOAL: Lock-On After Launch (low-al) – missile is launched then it acquires a laser lock

LOBL: Lock-on Before Launch (lobel) – the missile locks onto the laser energy when it is still on the Apache

Longbow: The Longbow radar is the Apache’s Fire Control Radar. It looks like a large Swiss cheese and sits on top of the main rotor system

LOS: Line of Sight

LS: Landing Site – any unprepared Helicopter Landing Site

LSJ: Life Support Jacket – survival waistcoat – escape jacket

LWRS: Laser Warning Receiving System

Lynx Mk7: British Army anti-tank helicopter armed with missiles on each side

ManPADS: Man Portable Aid Defence System – shoulder-launched heat-seeking missile

MAWS: Missile Approach Warning System

Max chat: As fast as possible

MC: Military Cross – awarded in recognition of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy on land.

MIA: Missing In Action

Mission Net: An encrypted frequency used to coordinate the mission during operations

MoD: Ministry of Defence

Monocle: The pink see-through glass mirror over an Apache pilot’s right eye that displays green symbology and images from the onboard computers and sights

Mosquito: Taliban slang for the Apache

MPD: Multi-Purpose Display – one of two five-inch screens on the console in each Apache cockpit

MPOG: Minimum pitch applied to the main rotor blades when on the ground

MPSM: Multi-Purpose Sub-Munition

Mujahideen: Afghan opposition groups – fought the Soviets during the Soviet invasion and each other in the Afghan Civil War – plural for the word mujahid meaning ‘struggler’

Multiple: A Northern Ireland patrol consisting of two or more bricks

MWR: Moral, Welfare and Recreation. Large US facility in which to unwind with the freely provided games, refreshments, TVs, Cinema, computers, gaming stations, DVDs and the internet

NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

Negative: Air speak for ‘no’

Negative Lima: No laser

Nimrod: A long-range maritime patrol aircraft modified for surveillance

NVG: Night Vision Goggles – night sights that magnify light by 40,000 times

OC: Officer Commanding – major in charge of a squadron or company group

OP: Observation Position

Ops: Operations – as in Ops tent, Ops room, Ops Officer or literally an operation

ORT: Optical Relay Tube – the large console in the front seat with PlayStation-type grips on either side

Pairs fire-and-manoeuvre: One static soldier aiming or shooting whilst his buddy manoeuvres to a position forward or backwards of him. They swap roles and do this continually manoeuvring with one foot on the ground at all times

Para: Nickname for a soldier from the Parachute Regiment or the Regiment itself

Pathfinder Platoon: a small unit designed and trained to fight behind enemy lines; 16 Air Assault Brigade’s equivalent of the SAS

Pax: Official military term for people

P-check: Northern Ireland term for checking the details of a car from its number plate

PFL: Practice Forced Landing – practising landing without the use of any engines

PID: Positive Identity

Pinzgauer: Small 4x4 all-terrain utility truck

PNVS: Pilot’s Night Vision System (Pinvis) – the thermal camera that sits above the TADS on the Apache’s nose

Port: Left-hand side of an aircraft or vessel

PRT: Provincial Reconstruction Team

PMI: Power Margin Indicator

QHI: Qualified Helicopter Instructor – flying instructor

RA: Royal Artillery

RAD: Ram Air Decelerator

Radome: A dome that shrouds a radar head

RAF: Royal Air Force

Rearm: Reload the Apache with ammunition

Red Top: Gazelles painted anti-collision Day-Glo red, flown by range officers whose job is to ensure that troops, vehicles and aircraft are within safety limits

Replen: Military slang for replenishment

RF: Radio Frequency

RIP: Relief In Place – Apache flights handing over the battle between each other, maintaining support to the ground troops

RMP: Royal Military Police – British Military Police

RoC: Rehearsal of Concept

ROE: Rules Of Engagement – law set by a country’s government laying down the rules governing how arms are brought to bear

ROZ: Restricted Operating Zone

RPG: Rocket Propelled Grenade – shoulder-launched rocket with a powerful grenade warhead on the front

RQHI: Regiment’s Qualified Helicopter Instructor

RTA: Road Traffic Accident

RTB: Return To Base

RTM322: Rolls-Royce engines for the Apache

RTS: Release To Service – the document that details what can and can’t be done with the Apache regarding flight, firing, etc.

RV: Rendezvous – designated meeting place

RWR: Radar Warning Receiver

SA80: British Forces rifle – 5.56 mm automatic

SAL: Semi-Active Laser

SAM: Surface-to-Air missile

SAS: Special Air Service – an independent British Special Forces unit of the British Army

SBS: Special Boat Service – an independent British Special Forces unit of the Royal Navy

Scratcher: Military slang for bed

SF: Special Forces – e.g. SAS and SBS

SFI: Senior Flying Instructor

Sitrep: Situational Report

Starboard: Right-hand side of an aircraft or vessel

Stinger: US-designed Surface-to-air ManPADs (Man Portable Air

Defence System) Missile. Taliban slang for any shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile

SupFAC: Supervisory Forward Air Controller

SWO: Squadron Weapons Officer

Symbology: Flying and targeting information beamed onto the monocle

T-33: Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star. An old military jet built under licence by the Canadians and renamed the CT-133 Silver Star

TA: Territorial Army

TADS: Target Acquisition and Designation Sight – the ‘bucket’ on the nose of the Apache that houses the Apache’s cameras

Taliban: Collective term used in this book for Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Hezb-I Islami Gulbuddin (HIG)

Tanky: A member of one of the tank Regiments – tank commander, driver or gun loader

TFAD: Task Force Availability Date

Theatre: Country or area in which troops are conducting operations

Thirty mike mike: Military slang for thirty millimetre or the Apache’s cannon rounds

Thirty mil: Alternative name for thirty mike mike

TOC: Tactical Operations Cell

Topman: Callsign for the British Harrier

TOW: Tube-launched Optically tracked Wire-guided missile – fired from the British Army Lynx helicopter

Tracer: Bullets that burn with a red, orange or green glow from 110 metres to 1,100 metres so that they can be seen

TSD: Tactical Situational Display

UFD: Up Front Display – an LED instrument that displays critical information to the Apache crews

USAF: United States Air Force

Venturi: A tubed duct that changes pressure to speed air up

VP: Vulnerable Position

WAH-64D: British version of the Apache

WI: Weapons Instructor

Widow: Callsign for JTACs in Afghanistan

Wildman: British Apache callsign from May 2006 to October 2006

Wingman: The other aircraft in any pair of aircraft

WMIK: Weapons Mounted Installation Kit – an odd-looking Land Rover with bars all over it to which weapons can be attached

WO1: Warrant Officer Class One – a soldier who holds a Royal Warrant is known as Warrant Officer; Class One is the highest non-commissioned rank in the British Army

WO2: Warrant Officer Class Two

Zero-zero: A term used to describe a specific type of approach to land in a helicopter