Army aviation

Infobox Aviation
name = Army aviation

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caption = Soldiers in OH-58D Kiowa and AH-64 Apache helicopters from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment conduct a combat air patrol near Tal Afar, Iraq.

Army aviation refers to aviation-related units of a nation's army. These units are generally separate from a nation's dedicated air force, and usually comprise helicopters and light support fixed-wing aircraft.

Tasks

The tasks of each army's aviation units are defined slightly different, depending on nationality. Some general characteristics, however, apply to all army aviation units regardless of provenience:
* Logistic and battlefield support
* Tactical transport both internally and externally, of personnel and material
* Assault duties and anti-tank warfare
* Search and rescue
* Medical evacuation
* Reconnaissance and fire support in a combined arms team
* Surveillance
* Liaison
* Flying training
* Disaster relief

Equipment

In order to fulfill their manifold tasks, army aviation mostly uses helicopters. These helicopters can be classified into the following types:

*Attack helicopters for close air support of ground troops and anti-tank role
*Transport helicopters
*Observation helicopters
*Utility helicopters
*CSAR, CASEVAC/MEDEVAC helicopters
*Training helicopters

National army aviation components

* Army Air Corps (United Kingdom)
* Australian Army Aviation
* Brazilian Army Aviation
* Colombian National Army Aviation
* French Army Light Aviation
* German Army Aviators Corps
* Iranian Army Aviation
* Italian Army Aviation
* Malaysian Army Aviation
* Portuguese Army Light Aviation Unit
* Republic of Korea Army Aviation
* United States Army Aviation Branch

ee also

* Military aircraft
* Military helicopters
* List of air forces
* Timeline of military aviation

References

Further reading

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External links