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“Who the hell do you think you’re kidding, Gringo?” Fernando Lopez asked, laughing. “Your nostrils are flaring.”
1 The MH-53J “Pave Low III” heavy-lift helicopter is the most technologically advanced helicopter in the world. Its terrain-following, terrain-avoidance radar and forward-looking infrared sensor, along with a projected map display, enable it to perform low-level, long-range, undetected penetration into denied areas, day or night, in adverse weather, for infiltration, exfiltration, and resupply of special operations forces. The helicopter is equipped with armor plating and a combination of three 7.62mm miniguns or .50 caliber machine guns. It can transport 38 troops or 14 litters and has an external cargo hook with a 20,000-pound (9,000-kilogram) capacity.
2 There are two models of AH/MH-6 “Little Bird” helicopters. Both are equipped with GPS/inertial navigation systems and forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensors.
The AH-6 is armed, most often with two seven-tube 2.75-inch rocket launchers and two 7.62mm M134 “miniguns.” They can also be armed with .50 caliber machine guns, MK19 40mm grenade machine guns, Hellfire missiles, and Air-to-Air Stinger (ATAS) missiles.
The MH-6H assault helicopter is nearly identical to the AH-6, except that it is designed to carry troops and is not armed. Two or three troops can be carried internally and up to six externally on folddown platforms that resemble benches on either side of the fuselage.
3 The E-3 “Sentry” is an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) mounted on a highly modified Boeing 707 airframe. Its radar dome, thirty feet in diameter and mounted fourteen feet above the fuselage, provides surveillance over a range of 250 miles from the earth’s surface up into the stratosphere, over land or water. Additionally, the E-3 is equipped with a vast array of communications equipment, permitting communication with aircraft in its area, and, via satellite, with superior headquarters anywhere in the world.
4 The KC-135, also based on the Boeing 707, is an in-flight refueling aircraft capable of dispensing 200,000 pounds of fuel through a probe mounted in the rear of the fuselage. Barksdale Air Force Base is located in northwest Louisiana.
5 The F-15 “Eagle” is an all-weather fighter whose maximum speed is more than twice the speed of sound (Mach 2.5). Eglin Air Force Base is on the Gulf Coast of Florida near Pensacola.
