Rotor & Wing

While many presentations are given by senior military commanders during the Professional Sessions at Quad-A, sometimes one phrase, or couple, jump out during each individual’s speech almost demanding to be repeated to a much wider audience.

Here is a selection taken from all days that you might find interesting (the comments in brackets represent my additional notes):

“The Army currently supports us [Aviation] in a way that I have not seen bettered in my 32 years of service.” MG James Barclay III, Aviation Branch Chief

“We are in a never ending aviation study…we have got to continue to attack the targets.” (Aviation Studies I and II have been designed to chart the future of the Aviation Branch).   MG Barclay

“The UAS Roadmap 2010-2035 is a truly remarkable document. It provides us with a broad vision on how the Army will deploy UAS in the near, mid and far terms.” General Peter Chiarelli, Vice Chief of Staff, US Army

“The evolution of UAS is not complete. They must not only see, but shape the battlefield. UAS allows us to enhance the ability of ground operations.” MG Barclay

“In terms of UAS…its 1914 and we have just reached fixed wing aviation.” (You ain’t seen nothin’ yet). MG Jeffrey Schloesser, Director, Army Aviation, G3/5/7

“If people want something moved, found or killed, they look for aviation.” MG Perry Wiggins, DCG, Firth US Army North

“We are increasing to three Combat Aviation Brigades in Afghanistan. This will be challenging, especially in the air-ground integration of fires…We are working on joint firepower courses but still need to make it a more persistent capability.” (The integration of all fires, not only from the CABs, but from all other national and international forces can prove a major challenge). MG Schloesser

“Over the last eight to nine years of war, some leaders thought we had moved away from the manoeuvre fight. Aviation is still an integral part of manoeuvre.” (European forces have also been relearning some air manoeuvre skills) MG Barcaly

“Did we do enough manned / unmanned training? No we did not. If they [UAS] are forward in the fight they can’t be back training.” Col Ron Lewis, Commander, 159th Combat Aviation Brigade

“We can’t use Wright Brothers goggles to predict the future.” (Perhaps a hint to the detractors of the rapid growth of UAS) Col Christopher Carlile, Director, UAS Centre of Excellence

“Manned advantages / disadvantages layered with unmanned advantages / disadvantages gives us a synergy we did not have before.” Col Carlile

“The whole idea is to have the bad guys engaged before you have troops in contact.” (One of the sound reasons behind the proliferation of a variety of UAS as far down as small unit level) Col Carlile

“We will flex the force [UAS] forward to a medium level. As we go into the future, this new amount of situational awareness will allow the combat commander to pick the right tool to deal with it.” [the type and size of threat he is facing].” Col Carlile

“There is concern about Army Aviation dwell time. There is a tough time ahead from the summer of 2010 for a year.” (The pace will not slacken for Aviation any time soon). MG Schloesser

“The night of the long knives is coming. We have been given an awful lot [finance] with the expectation that it has now been spent wisely.” (The Comanche boom era has ended). MG Schloesser

“The UAS Roadmap has been vetted and approved by every branch chief in the Army.” (…so all you aviators better get used to the idea quick). BG William Crosby, PEO Aviation

By Andrew Drwiega

When someone such as BG Raymond Palumbo, Deputy Commander, Army Special Operations Command speaks in public, we should probably listen – even just to get the snippets of wisdom.

Being special operations of course, means he isn’t actually going to tell you how to do it, rather than an outline of how they organise to go about the task. Palumbo kicked off the Professional Sessions on Day 2 Quad-A with a few general observations:

1) You see the world from where you sit – but you must understand where you fit into the big picture.

2) You are benefited and limited by your experiences.

3) No bucks – no Buck Rogers.

He later qualified the last point by saying he believed that the Army had sufficient budget to do what it was being tasked with: “we will have to do better with what we have got.” (Incidentally, this comment is being repeated ad nauseam in Europe as well). He then ran a clip from the film Apollo 13, the extract where the Mission Command team is trying to decide what they have on board the spacecraft to help resolve the crisis: “I don’t care what anything was designed to do, I care about what it can do.” That, said Palumbo, will refer more and more to the attitude people are going to have to adopt towards the equipment they will have in the budget tightening times ahead.

In terms of the 160^th SOAR, the dedicated aviation element of Special Aviation Command, he gave a review of the current fleet strength: 51 x AH/MH-6, 72 x MH-60 (going for an all MH-60M fleet); 69 x MH-47 (trying to go to all MH-60G fleet); and 24 x ER/MP (Warrior).

Warfighter lessons learned

In the following Integrated Warfighting Forum, MG Jeoffrey Schloesser, Director of Army Aviation, said that there is still a challenge on air-ground integration, and especially coordinating fires between elements such as aviation and artillery. “We are working on joint firepower courses but need to make it a more persistent capability.” He also mentioned the need to cascade training in air assaults further down to junior grade officers on a more frequent basis: “Air assaults (in Afghanistan) are mainly conducted at the platoon level and usually commanded by a Lieutenant.”

MG Perry Wiggins, DCG, 5^th Army North commented that out in the field “if people want something moved, found or killed, they look for aviation first.” But he continued, “the current demand for aviation exceeds logistics” and that the modernisation process for units resetting for the next fight is pressurised – ‘people have only ten months (to get done what they need) from boat to boat.’

Commenting further on operations and command challenges therein, he said that distributed operations add complexity and demands planning and strong leaders.  Maintenance also demands a centralised plan which can operate in a decentralised way. He added that it was vital to place a good organiser from the command group in charge of rear detachment organisation: “we tend to overlook rear detachments but it is the soldier’s most treasured possession. You get the benefits through to the end of the deployment.”

BG Ray Palumbo was also a Forum panellist and remarked on the ‘fantastic job’ that industry had been doing across the whole spectrum of ISR equipment – from rubber rocks that can listen to cameras in bricks – and upwards to the airborne ISR platforms in the world the rest of the Army operates in. “It is sometimes difficult to comprehend what to buy to do our job,” he concluded.

By Andrew Drwiega

The keynote address at the opening morning at the Army Aviation Association’s annual gather, presented by General Peter Chiarelli, Vice Chief of Staff, was hugely significant in one very obvious factor – the excitement and wholehearted enthusiasm he exuded for the Army’s just released Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Roadmap 2010-2035.

Although praise was heaped on the existing dedication and achievements of Army Aviation, it is clear that UAS is considered ‘the way ahead.’  Chiarelli described the roadmap as ‘a truly remarkable document’ that gives a broad vision as to how the army will deploy UAS in the near (2010-2015), mid (2016-2025) and far (2026-2035) timeframes.

The impact of the UAS success (US Army operators have now flown over 1 million UAS flight hours) is leading to the reorganisation of Combat Aviation Brigades (CABs) [Kiowa Warrior units are currently being transformed - whittled down in size from 10 aircraft to seven - with Shadows being added]. Chiarelli described the UAS as disruptive technology: “they are a game changer and have forever changed the way in which the army operates.”

“UAS offers an enhanced sense and detect capability not found in current manned capabilities.” However, the manned helicopter community need not yet hand in their papers to join the dole queues. “The evolution is not complete,” said Chiarelli, adding that it was not sufficient simply to see the battlefield, but to shape it as well.

But the march of the UAS is real. In 2001 there were 54 Hunter and Shadow systems in the army reported Chiarelli. Today there are over 4,000 platforms spread between 1,400 systems. “They are agile, lighter and carry an impressive range of payloads. They are also above ISR – they provide security, attack and command & control.”

Despite UAS being recognised Chiarelli took great pains to underline that “UAS is not, NOT a budgetary document – it is a long range vision.” However, UAS do deliver savings in operating costs and force structure – something not lost on those who ultimately decide on budgets.

By Andrew Drwiega

A company founded by an ex-VP of Research and Engineering at Bell Helicopter Textron believes it has a cheap and practical solution to the US Army’s quest for a new Armed Scout Helicopter – by converting its old OH-58Ds into helicopters with co-axial counter-rotating rotors and ducted fans instead of a tail rotor.

Troy Gaffey, President and chief engineer at AVX Aircraft (founded 2005) told Aviationtoday.com that designers have been looking to either increase power available in new designs, or decrease the power required. “The co-axial rotor needs less power, with net savings of around 120hp.” AVX’s solution involves removing the existing rotor head, mast and transmission on an OH-58D and replacing it with a co-axial rotorhead. The tail boom and rotor is also replaced by twin ducted fans.

AVX Aircraft used Continuum Dynamics (CDI) to model the performance of the proposed OH-58D/AVX against the existing US Army OH-58D. CDI’s computer modelling software Computer Hierarchical Aeromechanics Rotorcraft Model (CHARM) was used with AVX making the following claims at the 6,000ft/95°F benchmark : HOGE at 5,500lb; 120kt cruise speed at IRP; 445km range; 3.1 hrs endurance; acceptable autorotation capability and improvements in ‘brown-out’ landings and noise generation.

AVX spokesman Mike Cox said that the company was looking for $31 million in funding to develop a concept demonstrator aircraft which, he claimed, could be flying within 18 months. However, he said that the company did not want to begin a manufacturing line and was talking to a number of potential partners, including Bell Helicopter, although all talks were at a very early stage. The company has responded to the US Army’s Request for Information for its Armed Scout Helicopter.

By Andrew Drwiega

The eagles are gathering again in Fort Worth, Tx, for the Army Aviation Association’s annual convention. This yearly US Army aviation catch-up and road-mapping is invaluable not only to those within the military, but to the industrialists who get a fantastic opportunity to hear the word of the moment from the Aviation Branch Chief MG James Barclay down through his team: MG James Myles (AMCOM); MG Jeffrey Schlosesser, Director, Army Aviation; BG William Crosby, PEO Aviation and others.

What really steals the show as far as this reporter is concerned are the reports from Combat Aviation Brigade commanders who, often having just returned ‘fresh from the fight’ give first-hand accounts of what is really happening at the spear tip: the good and the bad. At a time when it is not politically correct to report what is going wrong – when we have to describe problems as challenges – and language is being used to disguise difficulties rather than bring them into the light, it is so important that strength and success is reported back in equal measure with the ‘short rounds’ – the ambitions that were not reached, the doctrines that need revision, the equipment stuff that did not work as advertised and the times when success was not achieved. We all need to be aware of how it can be done better next time; how pre-deployment training can be improved, how industry can improve its offering – even if it means partnering with rivals to produce a better product for those whose lives depend on it. The army constantly reviews lessons learned – and so must industry. And industry has improved overall – a commitment that has been publically recognised by previous Quad-A leaderships. But the fight is ongoing and there is still room, lots of room, for yet more to be done.

My guess on themes to look out for during the next few days will be the inexorable growth of UAS systems, the swirl around the Armed Scout Helicopter and advances in better communications, hostile fire indicators and more ideas to improve situational awareness.

There is an acquisition round-table discussion planned for Saturday 17 April entitled The Industrial Base – It’s Not Just the Big Boys.  Doesn’t the phrase go: ‘Mighty oaks from little acorns grow!’

By Andrew Drwiega

The European Defence Agency (EDA) is about to begin assessing submissions made by organisations wishing to manage a two-year Interim Synthetic helicopter Tactics course. The overall contract will be worth €3-4 million with the location to be located at single fixed venue within a contributing member state. Proposals were to have been received by 31 March 2010 and a decision expected by the end of the autumn.

With several of the EDA’s member states having committed to deployed operations over the next two years, there is a requirement among some to have their training and effectiveness increased above their existing national standards. This would be provided through a series of courses over two years delivering dedicated tuition from operationally experience qualified helicopter instructors (QHIs).

The EDA’s objective is for 10 courses to run per annum, with four helicopter crews per four week course. Each crew would comprise up to four people (depending on the type of helicopter). Training would be synthetic based with no ‘live’ elements, but the course and training media would have to be reconfigurable depending on the helicopter type familiar to each crew.

It is expected that the synthetic training will be reconfigurable between Mi-17/171 aircraft, Super Puma/Cougars and perhaps even A109s. To date, member nations involved in the course include the UK, Luxemburg, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovenia and Estonia.

Training hot & high as well as TTPs

Planning for an EDA sponsored exercise that will take place in Spain from 9-26 June 2010 is gathering pace. The exercise will involve helicopter forces from the following member states: UK, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Hungary, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia and the host, Spain.

Initial planning has been led by Andrew Gray, the EDA’s Helicopter Project Officer. The EDA is looking to run two types of ‘live’ training per year. The first Spanish exercise will focus on operating in environmental ‘hot and high’ conditions and will test multinational operating capabilities in day/night scenarios. A second exercise to be held later in the year will focus on developing interoperability through common and understandable Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs).

“Multinational training is valuable to all member nations,” says Gray, who goes on to illustrate his point with just one example of helicopter operations in theatre. “Performance differences between three types of attack helicopter operating in Afghanistan for example – the Italian A129 Mangusta, the British Apache Longbow and the French Tiger – will all have different escort and ground support methods. Support helicopter crews when operating in coalition should be aware of the differences.”

Gray also intends for a tactical symposium to be run over two days, again bringing different multinational levels of experienced operators together to develop best practise as well as short cuts to learning. Luxembourg, while light on actual force commitment into NATO tasks, has been a particularly good financial supporter of the aims of the European Defence Agency’s helicopter development plans. The UK has also contributed English language courses for foreign nationals.

The EDA was founded on 12 July 2004 to assist member states in improving their European defence capabilities.