Original subtitles

(pensive music)

Over the course of military history,

two elements have been locked

in an ongoing struggle for battlefield dominance:

firepower and maneuverability.

True battlefield potency is achieved

when you're able to take your firepower,

your army,

and maneuver it through a war zone

to gain a positional advantage.

But in the 70 years before the start of World War I,

the technology of firepower

had advanced at a much greater rate than maneuverability,

which still plodded along at the speed of a horse.

That would all begin to change during World War I

with the emergence of an array of new technologies,

at the heart of which was the revolutionary

internal combustion engine.

And with these technologies came war machines

designed to restore the balance.

Machines that matched the advances of weapons

with an ability to move men faster,

more efficiently, and more safely.

This is the story of movement.

(dramatic music)

The disparity between mobility and firepower

was no more starkly evident than during

the Gallipoli landings of 1915.

The first major amphibious operation of World War I

followed a centuries-old tradition.

And, in the predawn of April the 25th,

a flotilla of wooden boats began quietly rowing men ashore

from transport vessels anchored 500 meters away.

But, as they slowly came within range of the beach,

all hell broke loose.

Essentially, each lifeboat could carry up to 28 diggers.

And they were all compressed in there like sardines,

and they were under enemy fire.

Heavy shelling and gunfire rained down

and the men in those wooden boats were helpless.

What was notable about the Gallipoli landings

was the rate at which the troops

could get on the ground and start fighting.

They were limited by the fact

that they had to climb over the side of the boat.

The days of amphibious operations

led by rowboats were over.

(gentle music)

But soon, a new type of vessel

for moving men ashore would emerge.

While the Second World War provided the Allies

with the same problems faced at Gallipoli,

they were on a much grander scale.

How to deploy entire armies and supplies to a continent

where all the major ports were in the enemy's control?

Enter the American boat-building entrepreneur Andrew Higgins

and his design, the LCVP.

Higgins answered the call of the U.S. Marines

to construct a vessel that could perform well

in the open sea and deliver a company

of 36 fully equipped soldiers onto unprepared beaches.

Based on a design used in the shallow waters

of the Louisiana bayous,

the initial landing craft personnel, or LCP,

could operate effectively in just 45 centimeters of water,

land its bow ashore and remove itself

to deeper water as needed.

This initial design was adequate but required

men and supplies to be unloaded over the sides.

A tactical nightmare considering

the dangers of amphibious landings.

So they decided to use a deployable ramp, which fell down,

which allowed a rapid evacuation of the craft.

And that meant the troops could get straight onto the beach

and start fighting as soon as possible.

What's more,

they could be equipped with two Browning machine guns

at the rear to provide covering fire while unloading.

This design became known as

the Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel, LCVP,

or Higgins boat for short.

With its ability to carry a full compliment

of 36 combat ready infantry,

it would play a vital role in the D-Day landings of 1944.

Close to 2000 Higgins boats were employed in those landings.

So critical was the role they played that,

after the war, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower

declared that, "Higgins is the man who won the war for us."

But the Higgins boat was not the only

amphibious landing craft that would play

a vital role in the war.

In virtually every theater of World War II,

the Allies were compelled to launch amphibious operations.

But arriving onto land from the sea,

presented the question of how to assist troops

as they negotiated that most treacherous element

of any beach landing, the open expanse of the beach itself.

Remember landing craft can only get you onto the beach.

To get from the beach into, say, cover,

if you have to carry things, you're vulnerable.

So in 1942, the Americans of course

invented an amphibious truck.

And this was the DUKW.

Known, of course, as the duck.

The duck exemplified one of the most

remarkable traits of the American war effort,

rapid manufacturing adaptability.

Rather than create an all new vehicle from scratch,

they took the proven CCKW 2.5 ton truck,

the logistical backbone of the Allied war effort,

fitted a boat hall to the existing drive chain and chassis,

and then added a rear propeller and bilge pumps,

both powered through a transfer case.

So it can drive on the road as normal

and, the good thing about it, it could swim.

The DUKW, of course, is inherently a ludicrous device.

This is a truck that floats?

You're kidding me.

And the American armed forces initially rejected it.

It just happened that an experimental model

happened to be on the coast of Massachusetts

when there was a hurricane in 1942.

And there happened to be a coast guard patrol vessel

that had got into difficulty

and the boats couldn't reach it,

but the DUKW was able to literally swim out,

pick up the crew, bring them back.

And after that, all of the objections

to the DUKW concept were disappeared.

(dramatic music)

And, when it was introduced into service,

it was a revelation.

Because it goes both on sand and mud

and on coral and on roads,

it needs wheels that can change their tire pressure.

How do you do that?

The Americans have this thing called a Speer's device,

common in cars today,

which enables the driver of the DUKW

to vary the tire pressure of his wheels.

So, in lots of ways, the DUKW confronted and solved

a whole host of technical problems.

Over 20,000 ducks were produced.

And they saw service in every campaign until war's end.

Able to reach 80 kilometers per hour on land,

and with a range of 650 kilometers,

which allowed them to continue supply

as the main front advanced,

the duck is often referred to

as one of the machines that won the war.

The DUKW was immediately a massive success

because at landings like Normandy,

the Dragoon landings in the south of France,

the further Italian landings,

right through the Italian campaign.

But where it really earned its stripes

was in the war in the Pacific,

fighting alongside another amphibious vehicle

that would prove invaluable.

It's more heavily armed and armored cousin,

the Landing Vehicle Tracked.

Perhaps the most memorable

of all land battles in the Pacific

was the Battle of Iwo Jima.

On February 19th, 1945,

the largest American naval force

ever assembled in the Pacific

began its attack on the small island.

Part of an inner ring of Japanese defenses

designed to prevent an American invasion.

Anticipating an amphibious war,

the Americans understood that simple landing barges

would not cross the coral reefs and sandbars

that fringe most Pacific islands.

And the boggy volcanic sand of the beaches

often ruled out wheeled vehicles for the initial assault.

Based on a tracked civilian vehicle

designed to navigate the swampy terrains

of the Florida Everglades, the LVT provided a solution.

The LVT was a landing craft that was fitted with tracks.

With tracks, you have two points of contact on the ground,

over a large area so your ground pressure is a lot lower.

So whereas wheels would get stuck,

tracks are still able to keep the vehicle moving forward.

With the capacity to transport

six crew and 30 troops, the LVT was powered

by a seven cylinder, 186 kilowatt radial engine.

The addition of a rear folding ramp meant

that light vehicles and artillery systems could be carried,

further enhancing the LVT's capability.

With the rear ramp in place, troops and vehicles

could exit with relative safety using the hull,

which was covered in 13 millimeter armor, as a shield.

And that is so important with a landing craft.

The reason being is that very often

you're landing under duress,

you're landing under conditions of enemy fire.

Initially a supply and transport vehicle,

when experience pointed to the LVT's offensive potential,

two 30 millimeter and two 50 millimeter guns

were fitted forward and rear of the loading area.

Updates continued with gun turrets and suspension

lifted from the Stuart light tank.

It was another example of

American manufacturing adaptability.

Nearly 20,000 LVTs were produced.

An all new kind of infantry fighting vehicle

that played a central role in the Battle of Iwo Jima.

A costly battle that lasted a month

before U.S. Marines claimed victory.

The LVT-4, the variant used with such success

during the month long Battle of Iwo Jima,

continued in service after World War II

and was superseded by the massive 40 ton LVTP-5.

It, in turn, was replaced in the early seventies by the

LVTP-7, a family of vehicles

known by troops as the Amtrack or Battle Bus.

And, in 1984, a shift in capability and tactical use

leaning more toward all-round fighting capability,

led to a name change.

No longer principally a landing vehicle,

the LVTP-7 became an amphibious assault vehicle

and was re designated the AAV.

The Amphibious Assault Vehicle is a fairly substantial

improvement on its historical predecessors,

such as the LVT and the W.

The revolutionary aspects of the design

are based on three things, firstly its protection.

So it has an aluminum hull but also it is able

to be fitted with a ceramic-based applique armor.

Made from sandwich plated steel

combined with an underlayer of Kevlar,

the enhanced applique armor kit provides protection

against small arms of up to 14.5 millimeters

and anti- material shell fragments.

The second point is its speed.

With a weight of just 24 tons,

the AAV, operated by a three man crew,

can transport 25 combat loaded Marines

on roads at speeds of 72 kilometers per hour.

War doesn't wait for weather.

And the pronounced bow of the fully battened down AAV

can withstand swells of up to four meters.

And it can do this traveling at speeds of up to eight knots.

Propelled by the vehicle's tracks,

which are assisted by a pair of water jets

fitted to the rear of the track idlers.

All round, this represents almost a doubling of speed

and sea-going ability from that achieved by the LVT-4.

The third aspect of this vehicle is its range.

In that it's able to travel

up to 480 kilometers on a single tank of fuel.

A range double that of the World War II LVT-4.

The roof line features a turret

equipped with an M2 50 caliber machine gun

and an Mk 19 40 millimeter automatic grenade launcher

that can accurately strike targets

at a range of 1.5 kilometers.

AAVs have powered ashore in a variety of conflicts,

including the first Gulf War.

And, while it is developed into

a highly adaptable battlefield weapon,

it is still very much an amphibious vehicle.

Capable on land but not of the land.

To reinforce an amphibious assault

and continue that attack on land

requires vehicles with both high levels of armor

and heavy duty firepower.

And to deliver these vehicles from ship to shore

requires a heavy duty landing craft,

like the LCAC.

The Landing Craft Air Cushion

is a huge hovercraft,

and it's awesome.

It's able to carry up to 188 troops,

over 60 tons of payloads.

That means that can take an M1 Abrams from ship to shore.

Launched from the flood-able well deck

of multi-purpose amphibious assault ships,

the LCAC is powered by four 12,000 kilowatt turbines,

has a top speed of over 70 kilometers per hour,

and a range of up to 550 kilometers.

The revolutionary thing about the LCAC is that

it can be deployed from a ship

up to over 50 kilometers away.

So that means it can traverse from a point

which is over the horizon from the destination.

That means that your expensive assets,

the large ships that deploy this craft,

are protected from enemy fire.

The LCAC also has survivability built in.

While the four main engines

are all used for lift and propulsion,

the craft can continue to operate, at reduce capability

with two engines inoperable.

The other advantage of the LCAC

is it can be deployed almost anywhere.

In fact, it's able to be deployed on

around 80% of the world's coastlines.

Due to its tremendous capability

over hazardous terrain, a small army can be deployed

beyond the beach in secure landing areas.

Where they are less vulnerable to enemy counterattacks.

And, among that force,

would be a number of armored personnel carriers.

Just as amphibious vehicles

have had to evolve to meet the challenges

of getting soldiers to the battlefield,

land based troop transport has had to adapt

the way it moves them on it.

(dramatic music)

At the turn of the 20th century,

motor vehicles had yet to gain military acceptance

and aviation was in its infancy.

Just as rowboats were the accepted method

for amphibious landings,

trains and horses were the traditional tools

used to move men and equipment on land.

But railways follow static routes

and horses are flesh and blood.

And it was this lack of flexibility and speed

that contributed to the stalemate that was World War I.

A costly impasse that lasted for over four years.

But, as the reliability and power output

of the internal combustion engine improved,

new ways of transporting men began to emerge.

World War I was the first major conflict

where vehicles were starting to be used.

And the main advantage of a truck is that

it's a little bit more resilient than a live animal.

In the "Scientific American" magazine

of July, 1916, an article appeared

describing the French efforts to defend

the citadel city of Verdun.

As if surprised, it reported that,

it was here then that the motor transport

performed its miracle of bringing up

a quarter of a million men, supplying this great

force with food and ammunition and removing the wounded.

It went on to say that it was the first time

in the history of the world that any army

was entirely dependent on motor transportation.

The narrow road to Verdun was later renamed the Sacred Way

to commemorate its vital contribution to the war effort.

But while trucks and buses

became increasingly used in World War I

to move men to and from the battle zone,

movement on the battlefield itself

remained relatively static.

And, of course, at that time,

breakdowns in trucks were quite commonplace.

It wasn't until World War II

that the geographic scale of warfare

meant that the mass movement of men

across the battlefield by motorized vehicles

would no longer be a fallback plan, but a necessity.

It was the German Blitzkrieg of 1939 and 1940

that first clearly demonstrated the tactical advantages

of coordinated, motorized battlefield transport.

Blitzkrieg is a term basically for lightning war.

So you want to hit one spot very quickly and fast.

So you essentially just break through.

To achieve success,

Blitzkrieg relied on specialized vehicles

to transport troops and supplies.

Specialized vehicles known as Hanomags,

a family of half track troop transports.

Perhaps the most famous and widely used

of those German machines was the Sd.Kfz. 251.

A robust and reliable half track that weighed nine tons,

had a top speed of 55 kilometers per hour

and a range of over 300 kilometers.

It the maneuverability of a wheeled vehicle,

but still had the load carrying capacity

of a tracked vehicle over soft and boggy ground.

By combining track drive with steering wheels,

the Hanomag was able to ford close to a meter of water

and cope with all but the most treacherous terrain.

The German half-track track was a troop carrier

so it principally was designed specifically

to get 10 troops to the front, to the action,

to where the battle was under the protection of steel armor.

Operated by a two man crew,

the Hanomag was armored with 14.5 millimeter thick

front-facing steel plates

that were steeply angled and V-shaped plates

of eight millimeter thickness on the sides,

providing more than adequate protection

against small arms and machine gunfire.

What's interesting about the half-track

is the armor plating that's used.

And, if you look at a half-track,

it has these angled plates.

Now there is benefit there

from a ballistic protection point of view

because, as the bullet travels through an oblique plate,

it has the tendency to turn.

And what that does is that takes energy out of the bullet.

The Hanomags were central

to the success of the Blitzkrieg

and at least 15,000 were produced, in a number of variants,

during the course of the war.

The Allies too used half-tracks

and perhaps the best known of those was the American M3,

which was almost identical to the Hanomag

in both specification and production members.

The M3 would go on to serve with the U.S. Army

through both Korea and Vietnam.

But the speed and weapons of warfare,

eventually outpaced vehicles like the Hanomag and the M3.

And a new generation of faster,

more heavily armored land transport emerged

in the early 80s with the M2 Bradley.

The U.S. Marine Corps describe their fighting philosophy as

seeking to shatter the enemy's cohesion

through a variety of rapid, focused and unexpected actions.

That philosophy, put more simply, reads

move men and armor quickly.

Powered by an eight cylinder diesel engine

and operated by a crew of three,

the M2 Bradley can carry a squad

of seven combat ready infantry

at a maximum road speed of 65 kilometers per hour

across an operational range of 450 kilometers.

This fulfills one of the main

design objectives of the M2 Bradley,

which was to keep pace with the Abrams battle tank.

with which it often fights in formation.

However, speed in battle is not the only consideration

for armored personnel carriers.

Whenever you're transporting troops

from one location to the next,

then you need to get there as quickly as possible.

The less time you spend on the road,

the less likelihood there is of being hit.

Of course, speed is worthless

without maneuverability.

And the M2 rides on a torsion bar suspension system

with a track that sits on six double tired road wheels,

giving the 36 ton vehicle

exceptional all-terrain capability.

And that mobility is matched by protection.

If you look at something like an RPG-7,

which has an 89 millimeter diameter cone,

that can penetrate ups about 300 millimeters

of rolled homogeneous armor steel.

So it's a very deadly threaten indeed.

And of course, most armored vehicles, such as tanks,

they don't have 300 millimeters of steel on their hulls

to provide the level of protection that they require

and so you need another means of providing protection.

To combat this, the M2 has been upgraded

with additional applique steel armor

and the latest explosive reactive armor.

Which consists of 96 tiles fixed to the sides,

turret and front of the vehicle.

Which effectively enhance protection

against a variety of anti-armor munitions, like the RPG-7.

While their main mission is to provide

protective transport to a squad of troops

to and from critical points on the battlefield,

the M2 can provide supporting fire

with an array of cannons, machine guns,

and even the TOW anti-tank guided missile system.

The M2 Bradley has experienced continued success

since its introduction in 1981.

Yet the Bradley was developed at the height of the Cold War

around the expectation that, if a war were to take place,

it would likely be a high intensity conflict in Europe,

fought along traditional lines.

However, recent conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere

have proved to be, in many ways, anything but traditional.

The changing conditions have demanded a fast,

adaptable vehicle to meet new battlefield challenges.

And that vehicle is the eight-wheeled IAV Stryker.

Protected mobility vehicle.

And the idea is that it's there to transport troops

very quickly from one location to the other.

Providing armored protection for a two man crew

and a squad of nine infantry soldiers,

everything about the Stryker is designed for speed,

adaptability and survivability.

It's eight wheels can be switched on the fly

between four wheel drive on main roads

to eight by eight configuration for rough terrain,

where it can achieve speeds

of up to a hundred kilometers per hour.

But the eight wheel design is more than just a novelty.

It follows a modern trend based on battlefield experience.

One of the interesting design features of the Stryker

is that it has multiple wheels, it has eight wheels.

So that means, once it goes over a mine,

and if that mine goes off and you lose a wheel station,

it doesn't kill your mobility.

And that can be essential if you're trying

to get out of a very hot spot on the battlefield.

Tracks, on the other hand,

if you run over a mine and you destroy your track,

then that means that you've lost your mobility

and, effectively, you're a sitting duck.

Less an armored fighting vehicle

like the Bradley and more a counterinsurgency weapon.

Being wheeled, the Stryker is far quieter on approach,

giving the troops far greater opportunity

of overwhelming their objective by stealth.

Of course, protection is paramount for a vehicle designed

to deliver troops to the heart of battle.

And, while the Stryker is heavily armored,

combat experience in Iraq pointed towards the need

for countermeasures against

the anti-tank weapons it encountered.

And so the Stryker was retrofitted

with a cage of slat armor.

But perhaps the greatest advantage

of the Stryker, compared to the Bradley, is its weight.

The backend of the Cold War,

the U.S. Army was specifically looking for a vehicle

that they could deploy very quickly around the world.

And mass is a very big consideration

when you're looking at deployability.

That is that you want to reduce

the weight of your vehicle as much as possible,

but still maintain features like good levels of protection,

perhaps, in some cases, good levels of lethality.

And the IAV Stryker is one vehicle

that had the possibility of offering those.

While the Stryker is lethal,

with a universal mount that can accept

the remote weapons station,

a modular unit which can fit a variety of weapons as needed,

from heavy machine guns,

right up to 105 millimeter rifle cannon,

it weighs a comparatively light 17 tons.

As such, it forms the basis of new highly mobile units

referred to as brigade combat teams.

Each brigade operates more than 300 Strykers

of different variants.

And that lighter weight contributes to the ability

for an entire brigade to be airlifted and deployed

anywhere in the world within 96 hours.

And that speed of deployment can only happen one way,

by air.

(dramatic music)

While the aircraft of 1918 were extremely primitive,

their obvious fighting potential

saw most of the military functions of modern aircraft

in place by the end of World War I.

With just two notable exceptions:

the cargo aircraft and the helicopter.

The interwar years saw rapid developments in the range

and carrying capacity of civil aircraft.

And, during World War II,

the potential of transport aircraft was unlocked

and militaries began moving men and equipment

in ways that no one had ever imagined.

In December, 1935, an aircraft was introduced

into domestic service in the United States

that many have referred to

as the most important aircraft ever built,

the Douglas DC-3.

The smooth, round, aerodynamic shape,

which minimized the drag effects of greater size,

were revolutionary at the time.

Combined with powerful engines

and retractable undercarriage,

the all-new shape gave the DC-3 a top speed

of over 300 kilometers per hour,

which was extraordinary for its day.

As was the wing design, enabling the DC-3

to take off and land from short, unprepared airstrips.

It wasn't long before its military potential was realized

and, in 1939, the C-47 Skytrain was born.

Differing little in appearance from its domestic cousin,

slightly more powerful engines increase the C-47's

top speed by 30 kilometers to 360 kilometers per hour

and left it with a usable range of 2,750 kilometers.

This aircraft was used both for troop transport and cargo.

And so in many campaigns and Europe, in the Pacific

these aircraft with a prime airlift asset

really for the Allies.

With the ability to haul

28 combat equipped troops and to land and take off

from rough fields less than 800 meters long,

the C-47 could quickly deliver

men and material close to the front lines.

Designed for loads of up to 2,750 kilograms internally,

food, medicines, ammunition, and machine parts

for mechanical repairs could all suddenly be moved

to the front lines by air.

But perhaps the most revolutionary role

undertaken by the C-47 was in airborne assault operations.

Where there was no place to land,

but supplies and men were needed,

the C-47, with its remarkable low speed control,

was ideal for delivering them by parachute.

Really it was the Second World War

that saw the huge advent of paratrooper operations in fact.

You know, we look to campaigns like D-Day

where very large numbers of troops were delivered

out the back of fixed wing aircraft,

like the military version of the DC-3

or in fact from gliders being towed behind these aircraft.

In all, over 10,000 C-47s,

in different variants, saw service during World War II.

Deploying thousands of troops and supplies

into critical combat areas.

In this role, it was central to the establishment

of the modern concept of airborne warfare,

restoring a balance to the wartime firepower

and maneuverability equation.

A balance that would be tipped

further in favor of maneuverability

with the introduction of the helicopter.

Helicopters saw limited service in World War II.

But the fragile design

of the first truly functional helicopter,

the German Fokke-Wulf Fw61,

spawned a number of aircraft, both German and Ally.

To that point, helicopters had existed

and were used operationally

but had been piston engine powered.

Those sorts of engines, of course,

had been the predominantly used engines in all aircraft,

really up until the end of the Second World War.

On land, personnel carriers

had become the modern equivalent of the cavalry.

But during the Vietnam War,

the conditions worked against land-based transport.

They were relatively slow moving in the jungle terrain

and easily engaged by a hidden enemy.

The solution was to get the cavalry airborne

in numbers that would make a difference.

To achieve that required

a breakthrough in engine technology.

And that came with the development

of the turbo shaft engine.

This French helicopter,

known as Alouette the second, is the first whirly-bird

to be fitted with a gas turbine.

Up 'til now, speed has never been

a strong point of the helicopter.

But, with 360 horsepower to help it along,

it's quite a different story.

Whereas the engines in fixed wing aircraft

were predominantly something called a turbo jet,

which was utilizing the exhaust thrust of the engine,

the variant of the gas turbine used in helicopters

was actually known, or is known as a turbo shaft.

And gas turbines actually were developed

to give much better power to weight ratios

and reliability than piston engines.

It was that dramatic change

in power to weight output that allowed

for the design of an aircraft to fill the air cavalry role.

And the Americans turned to a helicopter

designated the Bell UH-1, codenamed the Iroquois,

but affectionately known as the Huey.

The sight of Hueys landing with armed troops

spilling from either side

is one of the defining images of the Vietnam War.

Designed from the outset to move men,

its large cabin space was sufficient

for 14 combat ready troops,

who gained access through large, sliding, windowed doors

on either side of the fuselage.

With a base crew comprised of one to four personnel,

depending on the task and equipment utilized,

the Huey, powered by its turbo-shaft engine,

could vertically lift a payload of 1,750 kilograms

and then move it at a top speed of 220 kilometers per hour.

And, like the ground and water-based machines,

that evolved from simple troop carriers

to offensive weapons, so too did the Huey.

So gradually they became more and more armed

as helicopter gunships.

So with forward firing machine guns and rockets,

and also with door guns

that could be fired by troops on board,

in support of those on the ground.

Huey's in Vietnam

were called upon to fulfill a variety of roles

that few aircraft of the time could match.

But perhaps their greatest achievement

was in medevac operations.

With six medical litters filling the cargo space,

Hueys were responsible for airlifting an estimated 90,000

injured troops through the course of the Vietnam War.

While the Huey could move men quickly,

battle often calls for heavy weapons to support troops

and to move heavy equipment is the task of a heavyweight,

like the Boeing CH-47 Chinook.

The Chinook is a heavy lift helicopter.

It was designed to be both a cargo carrying

and troop carrying helicopter.

That first saw widespread service in the Vietnam War.

Despite being introduced in 1962,

the Chinook is still one of the heaviest lifting

helicopters in the world.

And one of the fastest in the U.S. military inventory.

A durable twin-engine, tandem rotor helicopter,

the Chinook was originally designed

as a troop transport and supply vehicle.

And, as such, is capable of carrying

as many as 55 combat troops or 24 medical litters.

In fact, in Vietnam, the Chinook transported

over 670,000 passengers in its first

two years of service alone.

But it quickly very much saw favor

actually carrying equipment,

particularly things like artillery.

Powered by twin turbo shaft engines

that have been constantly upgraded since its introduction,

the Chinook can lift nearly 12 tons

using two counter-rotating rotors

that eliminate the power drain of the anti torque

tail rotor found on single bladed helicopters.

A helicopter generates lift, not by forward motion,

but by the rotation of its main rotor.

So the Chinook was able to basically double

the surface area of rotors by adding a second rotor disc

and simultaneously achieving the torque balance

so that it could cope with different distributions

of mass in the vehicle.

This makes the Chinook incredibly stable

while hovering over a specific location.

And so, where the Chinook really excels

is in the deployment of artillery,

gun crews and transport vehicles to inaccessible locations

in support of frontline troops.

Using a triple hook system,

which provides in flight stability,

large external loads, such as 155 millimeter howitzers

or armored vehicles can be transported to the frontline

at speeds of up to 260 kilometers per hour.

For half a century, the Chinook has been central

to maintaining the maneuverability of troops

and equipment so essential to modern warfare.

And, when it started life,

it shared that job of moving men with the Huey

and it continues to offer that same support

to the Huey's replacement, the Black Hawk.

Helicopters like the Huey and the Chinook

ushered in a radically different way of fighting war.

But all new methods of attack

are eventually countered by adaptations in defense.

And, with time, the Huey became increasingly vulnerable.

While helicopters had the utility

of being able to operate very close to the fight

and in close support of that fight,

of course, that made them targets,

made them susceptible to things

like shoulder launched infra-red missiles.

Enter the Black Hawk,

the most widely used military transport helicopter

in the world today.

The Black Hawk very much took over the role

of battlefield utility or battlefield transport

from the Huey.

The Black Hawk addresses the Huey's

perceived shortcomings in every respect.

The first being power.

The Black Hawk is a larger, heavier,

higher performance helicopter

and so it uses two engines to drive its main rotor.

Twin engines increase survivability

and, with a top speed of 294 kilometers per hour,

and superior ballistic protection,

it is far less susceptible to small arms fire.

The Black Hawk incorporates a number

of other design features

that add flexibility to that survivability.

With the capacity to carry 11 troops with equipment,

it can also lift 1,200 kilograms of cargo internally

or 4,100 kilograms externally by sling,

which equates to a 105 millimeter Howitzer

along with 30 rounds of ammunition

and a four man crew in a single lift.

The Black Hawk has found application

in a number of different roles.

With an armament that can include

anything from machine guns to Hellfire missiles,

The Black Hawk is equally accomplished

in both defense and offense.

In addition, it is equipped

with enhanced stealth capabilities.

Any gas turbine will have a very hot exhaust plume

and that is a perfect target, both in terms of surveillance,

but then also for shooting down that aircraft.

And so the Black Hawk uses an infrared suppression system

to try and hide and cool the hot exhausts of the engine

before it is completely exhausted.

While helicopters like the Black Hawk

have changed the way we fight,

they still suffer from relatively slow speed,

short range and limited lifting capabilities.

Leading aircraft designers to search for ways

to combine the attributes of both helicopters

and conventional airplanes.

A helicopter will always suffer

compared to a fixed wing aircraft because

it doesn't have the benefit of that forward motion

to develop liftover wings.

Current and future designs are looking for,

you know, can we do this better?

And we are now seeing the advent of hybrid designs,

like the V-22 Osprey, that can actually transition almost

from a traditional rotating rotor blade generating lift

to forward speed with pusher propellers and small winglets.

But until a truly viable solution emerges,

the serious heavy lifting on the front lines

will continue to be shared by helicopters

and an aircraft that is the longest serving

in U.S. military history, the C-130 Hercules.

The C-130 Hercules is a four engine

turboprop powered transport aircraft.

Perhaps the best known

military transport aircraft in the world,

the Hercules is an aircraft that continues to evolve

to match the changing demands of modern warfare.

First introduced in 1956,

the latest variant of the Hercules, the MC-130J Commando II,

meets the needs of a modern mobile attack force.

With the ability to refuel

an array of modern helicopters in flight

and support special forces in forward operations,

either by airdrop

or air land.

It is the most recent in a series of role shifts

and upgrades to a machine that began life

as a simple transport aircraft.

One that has retained its classic shape,

a silhouette familiar to generations.

The C-130 sits sort of in the middle of

the tactical and strategic role.

So it's not as big as its compatriots,

like the very large C-5 Galaxy

or the C-17 Globemaster.

So it is not optimized for intercontinental transport.

It is designed though, to be able to go into,

what we would call, tactical airlift.

Where it can take payloads into unmade runways,

in forward operating zones.

The story of the Hercules began in 1951

with America committed to a war in Korea

and an emerging requirement

for a different kind of aircraft.

Lockheed responded with a machine

that combined the required lift capacity

with low altitude, low speed flight control

in a design that has proved incredibly adaptable.

Entering service just 11 years after World War II,

what the C-130 demonstrates is the incredible speed

with which aircraft developed.

With the capacity to carry in excess of 20,000 kilograms,

the C-130 has seven times the lift capacity of the C-47.

What it provides is a platform that can deliver

a sizeable, fully equipped and mobile fighting force

into a war zone at a speed

in excess of 600 kilometers per hour.

A speed and capacity that, just 10 years previous,

would have been unimaginable.

And while never optimized for intercontinental transport,

the C-130 has a range of over 4,000 kilometers,

allowing for medium range tactical operations

that double the distance covered by aircraft like the C-47.

And, just as landing craft and personnel carriers

have evolved from simple transports

to take on important strike roles,

the C-130 is one part of an ongoing quest

for increased battlefield mobility.

All modern militaries are mindful

of the great human cost of war.

And, while we continue to have conflicts,

social attitudes combined with the reach of modern media

has created a new accountability around them.

Mass deaths like those seen

on the battlefields of World War I

or indiscriminate bombing like that seen in World War II

are unacceptable in the modern age.

Increasingly, the technological advances

of the machinery of war have resulted in a growing reliance

on machines that, rather than moving men and equipment

to and across the battlefield,

are instead removing them from the battlefield altogether.

Unmanned and autonomous machines

may seem like the stuff of science fiction,

but they have been slowly transforming

the nature of warfare for decades.

And it seems likely that the battlefields of the future

will be dominated not by men, but by machines.

(dramatic music)