Aerial Rocket Artillery - Organization and Equipment

Organization and Equipment

While there are current U.S. Army aviation units with an attack mission (such as the combat aviation brigade), ARA was unique in that it was controlled by division artillery and not the aviation group (or an aviation brigade to use 2012 U.S. Army terminology). This allowed the artillery commander (usually a colonel) to coordinate ARA activities with other fire support missions (howitzers, air strikes, and so on). ARA was not the only location for attack helicopters within the Vietnam-era airmobile division (both the air cavalry units and standard lift battalions had attack aviation as part of their organization; with 12 gunships in Company D of each lift battalion and attack helicopters in each air cavalry troop), but it was the most concentrated and centralized element of attack aviation.

Each ARA battalion consisted of one H&HB (Headquarters & Headquarters Battery) and three firing batteries (Alpha, Bravo and Charlie). A firing battery was equipped with 12 attack helicopters. Initially the units were supplied with Bell UH-1B and UH-1C model helicopters, but these were replaced with the newer AH-1G Cobras as they became available. According to one historian's authoritative account of the First Cavalry Division's actions in Vietnam, the conversion to Cobras gave the 1/20th ARA "the firepower equivalent to three conventional artillery batteries."

The primary weapon of the ARA units was the 2.75" Folding Fin Aerial Rocket (FFAR). While the B and C model UH-1s could carry up to 48 of these rockets in two racks of 24 each (XM-3 subsystem), the faster, more powerful Cobras could carry 76. In addition to the rockets, the UH-1s carried two M60 machine guns mounted in the cargo doors as defensive weapons operated by the aircraft's crew chief and a door gunner, while the Cobras were armed with 7.62mm miniguns and 40mm grenade launchers in a nose turret. Some UH-1s were also armed with the AGM-22/SS-11 wire guided missile.