Airborne Pathfinder
From OMGWiki
 |
Airborne Pathfinder is updated to version Beta Two. |
| ||
| Placement | ||
| Faction | American | |
|---|---|---|
| Doctrine | Airborne | |
| Tree | Any | |
| Price | ||
 Manpower
| 240 | |
 Ammunition
| 0 | |
 Fuel
| 0 | |
 Population
| 5 | |
| Attributes | ||
| Squad Size | 5 | |
| Health | 350 | |
| Targeting | ||
| Target Type | infantry_airborne | |
| Vision | ||
| Sight | 40 | |
| Detection | 7/0 | |
| Suppression | ||
| Suppression Threshold | .2 | |
| Pinned Threshold | .6 | |
| Recovery Rate | .008 | |
| Abilities | ||
 Throw Mk2 Grenade
| ||
| Pathfinder Camouflage | ||
| Weapons | ||
 M1 Carbine
| ||
| American | Airborne Pathfinder Veterancy | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 10% reduction to received accuracy. | 10 |  Level 1
| ||
| 15% reduction to cooldown. | 40 |  Level 2
| |||
| 12.5% increase to line of sight & 20% reduction to received damage. | 120 |  Level 3
| |||
| Known Unit (Custom Name) | 300 |  Level 4
| |||
| Feared Unit (Custom Skin) | 450 |  Level 5
| |||
Pathfinders are paratroops who are dropped into place before a major operation in order to place and operate navigational devices to assist the primary drop of paratroops.
In OMG The Pathfinder branch of the Airborne division specializes in deploying radios beacons and scouting ahead for the rest of the Airborne drop. They are lightly armed and carry no explosives due to the weight of carrying intelligence equipment. While not geared for heavy fighting, Airborne Pathfinders are still decent fighters.
History
During World War II, the pathfinders were a group of volunteers selected within the Airborne units who were specially trained to operate navigation aids to guide the main airborne body to the drop zones. The pathfinder teams (sticks) were made up of a group of eight to twelve pathfinders and a group of six bodyguards whose job was to defend the pathfinders while they set up their equipment. The pathfinder teams dropped approximately thirty minutes before the main body in order to locate designated drop zones and provide radio and visual guides for the main force in order to improve the accuracy of the jump. Once the main body jumped, the pathfinders then joined their original units and fought as standard airborne infantry.
After the serious problems uncovered during the parachute drop in the Allied invasion of Sicily, Allied high command questioned the utility of parachute infantry primarily because of the difficulty of dropping the infantry as cohesive units rather than as scattered groups. A review of procedures and methods resulted in the establishment of the pathfinder teams to aid navigation to drop zones. Because aircraft navigation, especially at night, was so difficult, the concept was to create specially trained teams of aircraft crews and parachute infantry that would be able to locate the drop zone, parachute into the drop zone accurately, and then set up special radio beacon sets (the Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar beacon) and marking lamps to help guide the main airborne force to the drop zones. Brightly colored panels and smoke grenades were also used for daytime drops.
Pathfinders were first used in a jump to reinforce units involved in combat in Italy in September 1943. Pathfinders were involved in the D-Day drop of the Battle of Normandy in June 1944, the Operation Market Garden drops to secure the bridges required for the ground units advancing into the Netherlands in September 1944, a resupply by air operation of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division in Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, and a resupply by air operation of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division near Bleialf, Germany in February 1945.
Though a number of paratroopers were trained as pathfinders, they did not always jump as pathfinders for all operations. The number of pathfinders for a jump varied depending on the conditions of the destination at the time of the jump. For instance, the D-Day jump for the Battle of Normandy, a night time jump, had more pathfinder teams than the jump for Operation Market Garden, a day time jump. For the Battle of Bastogne, the 101st Airborne Division was trucked to the town for its defense against the attacking German forces. Two sticks of Pathfinders were used when the 101st Airborne was resupplied from the air in order to guide the aircraft dropping the much needed supplies accurately and within the Allied lines.
Tactics & Tips
- Airborne Pathfinders can camouflage allowing them to hide in heavy to light cover.
| |||||||||||||||||
