Troop transport

Mi-26T deployed by UNMISS in South Sudan

A troop carrier is usually a military vehicle that can transport several people on land, on water or in the air. Other areas of application are also available e.g. B. at security or rescue forces to bring the personnel to the scene .

application areas

In this country

Transport tank Fuchs of the Bundeswehr

On land, particularly large-scale suitable vehicles with wheel or chain drive , which many people (or in the military and military equipment ) can transport. Transport tanks are often buoyant, larger bodies of water can be crossed with amphibious vehicles . Security or rescue workers mostly use trucks , off-road vehicles or small vans .

Transport tanks, examples

• M113 personnel carrier : tracked vehicle, 8 to 11 soldiers
• Transport tank Fuchs : wheeled vehicle, 8 soldiers or 4 wounded (lying)

To water

The Queen Mary alone transported over 800,000 soldiers in World War II

USS McCawley (APA-4) on a training exercise in 1943

Siroco with the dock open, landing craft approaching, helicopter on deck

Watercraft that have a large load-bearing capacity to transport passengers and material are suitable . Several thousand soldiers can be moved from continent to continent with passenger ships .

Special troop transports are used by the military in amphibious warfare , such as dock landing ships or landing craft . The American Navy also calls such ships "attack transport" (attack transport). Troops can also be brought ashore with hovercraft .

French dock landing ships were used, for example, in:

• Support of the "Extraction Force" (XFOR) in Macedonia during the Kosovo war in 1999
• Support of the international protection force INTERFET in East Timor 1999
• Evacuation of foreign nationals from Lebanon in 2006
• Support for relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake

Troop transport, examples

• RMS Queen Mary , passenger ship: in December 1942 carried 16,082 soldiers on a single voyage
• RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 , passenger ship: fast troop transport in the 1982 Falklands War
• Siroco (L 9012) , dock landing ship with the following transport capacity and equipment:
  • 470 people permanently, 2000 people in disaster relief for up to 3 days
  • 150 vehicles, including up to 22 armored vehicles
  • 1880 tons of material
  • 2 to 10 landing craft in the dock
  • 2 to 4 helicopters in the hangar
  • Hospital with two operating theaters and two intensive care beds

In the air

Start of a C-17A “Globemaster III” on an unpaved landing area

Large transport aircraft or transport helicopters , which can bring people and material to the scene very quickly, are suitable here . Types that can also be used on unpaved landing areas have particular advantages. During military operations , so-called paratroopers are dropped over an operational area .

Transport aircraft, examples

Carriage of paratroopers on the main deck of a C-17

• Antonov An-124 : 88 soldiers and 130 tons of cargo, the cargo space is not as pressurized cabin executed
• C-5 Galaxy : 345 soldiers
• C-17 Globemaster : 102 paratroopers with equipment
• C-141 Starlifter : a choice of 155 soldiers, 123 paratroopers or 80 stretchers
• Transall C-160 / : 93 soldiers or 61–88 paratroopers or 62 carriers

Transport helicopters, examples

• Aérospatiale SA 321 / : 27 soldiers or 15 stretchers
• Mil Mi-26 : 82 soldiers or 68 paratroopers

See also

• Strategic path