Chungking Municipality alone has an estimated population of 30-33 million souls. Given the Communist organizational zeal for workplace and neighborhood spies, unless objectives could be rapidly taken and the Communist organization dismantled without seriously damaging the already low economic situation, a foreign military force would be destroyed within a matter of weeks.

Then a partial response suggested itself: the judicious utilization of ultra lights. Ultra lights have sometimes been described as flying lawnmowers. These machines have the characteristics of low cost, low maintenance, easy operation, and an ability to use readily available regular gasoline. Virtually all of the presently manufactured machines have concealed parachute devices that are easily deployed. A typical machine may have seating for two or be configured for one-person operation and a payload capability of at least three hundred pounds.

A number of military applications readily appear:

 Enemy communications interdiction;
 Enemy air observation;
 Friendly troop carrier capability;
 Re-supply;
 Operational capability in low-visibility situations (Battle of the Bulge);
 Useful to withdraw friendly troops from potential decimation (marines at Chosin resevoir in Korea);
 Precision operations (like the German Paratroopers used in assaulting Belgian forts at the beginning of WWII or the British Paratroopers seizing the Orne River bridges on D-Day);
 Extension of the operational area of friendly forces;
 Active and coordinated protection for medium and heavily armored vehicles

Static thinking makes for static results. Low-technology, judiciously applied can have amazing results. A simple GI came up with the solution for clearing hedgerows in France during the Normandy invasion. In the 1982 Middle East war, the Israelis destroyed the Syrian Air Force on the ground using radio and television-controlled model airplanes. In the 1990s, Peruvian elite troops used flashlights tied to their HK sub-machines in their successful freeing of diplomatic hostages.

There is a tendency for the generals to prepare for the last war--and the losers think more clearly about their mistakes and look for improved solutions.

In World War I, the Germans had problems shifting troops between the eastern and western fronts. After the War, the Treaty of Versailles greatly limited the resources to defend Germany. Eventually, defensive considerations gave way to the Blitzkrieg concept.

There is also a tendency to go for show rather than for substance. The following comments and not intended to decrease the valor of the troops involved. It is true that German Paratroops took Crete. However, the Allies were waiting for them thanks to the Ultra code-breaking of German messages and after battle reports were dismal and the costs in experience and highly trained troopers was so high that such operations were rarely again used by the Germans in World War II. What was almost always was effective was the usage of limited numbers of troops in rehearsed operations against precision targets using high levels of secrecy like the liberation of Mussolini or the neutralization of the Belgian forts in 1940.

Ultra lights are potential precision military tools in a panoply of tools, which include helicopters; the natural comparison people would make. The first reaction is to raise objections that helicopters are "better". The liberation of Mussolini, the neutralization of Belgian forts and the re-supply at Arnhem and the Bulge might have been easily accomplishable by helicopters. However, with the exception of the precise landing needed on the Belgian fort, fixed-wing ultra light aircraft with STOL capabilities could have done the jobs using truck driver skills and $10,000 vehicles. An objection might be raised that helicopters are armored and ultra lights are not. The lack of armor does not detract from effectiveness. Witness the effective German towed 88mm AA-AT gun with lack of armor or the romanticized PT boat with was largely made of wood. Another objection might be that helicopters are better suited for certain functions like carrying heavy loads or stretchers or rocket launchers. There is no denying this truth. However, there are many applications remaining when it is simply unnecessary to put a highly trained pilot and a multi-hundred thousand-dollar machine at risk where a smaller, more stealthy ultra-light would be able to achieve surprise and maintain secrecy longer. The applications could include direct action missions to more routine mail delivery, individual trooper rotations, simple re-supply of an outpost. While philosophically, no value can be placed upon a human life, it is done daily in the military. Bagging a Russian Hind helicopter in exchange of the expenditure of a Stinger or SA-16 MANPADS missile seems a good exchange from the defensive perspective. Bagging an ultra light in exchange for Chinese missile does not seem such a good exchange from the perspective of the defender.

Ultra lights also have a role to play in protecting medium and heavy tracked and wheeled mechanized/motorized forces. Historically, tanks were desired as protection for advancing friendly troops. Quite quickly, the vulnerability of tanks was discovered, and often-friendly troopers were sent ahead or on flanks to protect armor. Imagine ultra lights as expanding the protected areas in front, back and on the flanks of armor and also serving as eyes in the sky. The ultra-light fixed-wing aircraft is in essence a "manned UAV" if you can accept the oxymoron. The ability of Army mechanized forces to instantly put The accompanying ultra lights into service weighs favorably against calling upon dedicated helicopter forces, which might be minutes and miles away because their pampered nature means they are not co-located by trailers with ground maneuver units.

In conclusion, the consideration of the use of ultra lights serves as an advance into the future, which is sure to present three-dimensional battlefields wherein the side with lowest sustainable technology has the edge.

E-Mail 1^st TSG (A)!

"Great idea. Needs a silent motor and JP-8 diesel power source--perhaps a diesel-electric combination? Parachute or wings etc. need to be sky blue color."