When an Apache attack helicopter 30mm Chain Gun fires on an enemy target in Afghanistan, the strike is often a result of a complex mix of interwoven variables -- to include networked drones, fixed-wing intelligence aircraft and helicopters coordinating real-time video feeds with target analysis and aircraft-mounted electro-optical sensors.
Most of these kinds of offensive military operations, still going on in Taliban-occupied areas of Afghanistan, can be attributed to a decade old elite unit referred to as Task Force ODIN -- Observe, Detect, Identify, Neutralize. ODIN is a precisely choreographed attack force combining medium and low-altitude drone sensors with fixed-wing aircraft intelligence analysis and nearby Apache helicopters. In effect, targets are found by overhead cameras and sensors, analyzed by combat engineers in the sky and sent via satellite or other networks to ground-based military commanders.....leading up to what becomes exact targeting -- and then..attack.
Despite the longevity of the Afghan war, Task Force ODIN has been extremely active and successful over the past year, according to Lt. Col. Jarred M. Lang, the A11 Task Force ODIN (Observe, Detect, Identify, and Neutralize) commander and 206th MI (Military Intelligence) Bn. Commander.
According to an April 17 report in the Fort Hood Sentinel newspaper, Lang told his unit that over the past year... "You detected and neutralized more than 700 enemy combatants in conjunction with supported units, and directly eliminated over 250 enemy combatants through organic lethal strikes."
ODIN mission successes, Lang continued, also extended to the successful destruction of enemy IEDs, explosive materials and Taliban revenue-generating narcotics. Much of this activity resulted from more than 13,000 sorties, 78,000 flight hours and 25,000 signals intelligence reports -- resulting in more than 43,000 hours of full-motion video, Lang told his soldiers.