Although sometimes used to describe armed helicopters, the term aerial rocket artillery (abbreviated ARA, also called aerial artillery) properly refers to armed helicopter units that were part of (organic to) the division artillery of the United States Army’s two airmobile divisions during the Vietnam War. Controlled by division artillery and not the aviation group, the 2nd Battalion, 20th Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division and the 4th Battalion, 77th Artillery, 101st Airborne Division, along with Battery F, 79th Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division, were the only ARA units fielded during that conflict. The ARA concept disappeared from Army aviation by the mid-1970s, replaced with more generic attack aviation units.
Read more about Aerial Rocket Artillery: Beginnings, Organization and Equipment, Missions, Notable Achievements, Further Development
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