Black Hawk, Apache helicopters take to sky Wednesday for Fort Drum training exercise

FORT DRUM, New York (WWNY) - If you see a lot of military helicopters in the sky Wednesday, it’s because Fort Drum soldiers are taking part in air-assault training.

The exercise begins at 4 p.m. Wednesday and continues through 1:30 a.m. Thursday in the vicinity of Fort Drum and Griffiss International Airport in Rome.

More than 20 UH-60 Black Hawks and four AH-64 Apache helicopters will fly between the Army post and Griffiss and make multiple landings at each location.

An air assault is the movement of ground-based military forces by vertical take-off and landing aircraft — such as the helicopter — to seize and hold key terrain that has not been fully secured and to directly engage enemy forces behind enemy lines.

“Training air-assault exercises like this are extremely important for the preparation of our wartime mission,” said Maj. Derek P. Brown, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade executive officer. “Flying from Fort Drum to Griffiss International Airport allows us to increase flight distances and training complexity to better model real-world scenarios.”

Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, and 2nd Assault Helicopter Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment (Knighthawks) are taking part in the training exercise.