As the Marines rework how they are going to shape their way ahead with regard to the joint force and full spectrum crisis management, their ability to operate from seabasses to expeditionary bases to the wider littoral operations is a crucial contribution.

With their Osprey and F-35B capabilities already providing for significant ability to move Marines across the areas of interest from HA/DR to combat operations, the coming of the CH-53K adds significant capability of logistical support to combat Marines.

Recently, NAVAIR released a video showing the progress in the new aircraft operating at night in terms of extending its range via tanking operations.

I had a chance recently to discuss this development with Colonel Jack Perrin, Program Manager, PMA-261, H-53 Heavy Lift Helicopters, Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River, Maryland.

In that video, seen below, which was released on July 16, 2021, the CH-53K King Stallion is seen executing night vision goggle helicopter aerial refueling.

And NAVAIR added in its note accompanying the video: “It is the Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations vertical, long-range, heavy-lift, logistic backbone of the Marine Corps, today and for the next fight. Day. Night. All weather.”

When I discussed the progress indicated in the video with Col. Perrin this is what he underscored: “We’ve now gone through and have validated the CH-53K’s performance in helicopter aerial refueling, both day, night, both with and without the external loads. This is extremely significant because now we move a heavy external load and extend our range so that we can really get anywhere that the Marines are going to need heavy lift logistics support within the world.

“I can imagine us taking off from the shipboard environment with a heavy 27,000 pound or more external load and extending our reach because we’re able to aerial refuel along the way, day or night, and deliver those logistics support wherever they need that. For example, we will be able in the PACOM region to reach the outer island chain and operate up and down the chain or the other supporting areas where the U.S. Navy might be operating.”

In my discussions in July 2021 with Lt. Col. Lukas Frank, the head of the VMX-1 CH-53K detachment, he noted that the extended reach of the CH-53K was also facilitated with the automation in the aircraft which makes longer range operations more effective as well.

As Frank put it in that interview: “You have an aircraft that can carry significant supplies or Marines inside and can carry 36,000 pounds externally. They can carry a lot of stuff. It has automated flight control systems that allows you to land in the degraded visual environments that you would not dare land an ECHO or a DELTA in. It can fly long distance without the air crew being fatigued. If you’re aerial refueling and flying 1,000 miles in the E, the air crew would be wet noodles getting out after the flight. In the K you can relax a little, take a breath, allow the aircraft to help you fly and thus reduce aircrew fatigue significantly.

“I think when the necessity for conflict rears its head the K will be able to respond, and using human ingenuity, the operators will be able to find a way to support any mission that the Marine Corps needs it to do. The K is so versatile that I don’t see people being pigeonholed into not being able to do something with a K. I think they’ll be able to answer the call 99.9% of the time.”

In other words, the automation of the aircraft which allows for ease of flight coupled with day-night air refueling capabilities makes longer range for heavy lift possible for Marines.

And these Marines are drawing upon their legacy as the joint forces most mobile and expeditionary force to enhance the ability of the joint force to operate across a combat chessboard.

As Col. Perrin noted: “Not only are flight operations more manageable for the flight crew but we are now safer because of the stability of the aircraft and the fly-by-wire system. One of the notes that we have from the development testing for the night refueling is that it was actually an ITT event, by which we mean that it is both a developmental test pilot and an operational test pilot conducting the test together.

“We have an increased safety margin associated with the 53K in executing its missions. And we can do so with heavier loads and get more performance from leveraging the digital backbone and its ability to work the networks when it’s operating. You’re also reducing the pilot workload and enhancing the safety when you’re flying behind the tanker. Going over long distances, the air crew is not flying their aircraft on altitude and airspeed. The aircraft’s flying itself.”

We then discussed the coming of the CH-53K to the North Carolina-based Marines.

From April through July, I have had the opportunity to spend time with II MEF and 2nd MAW, who are working the challenging transition from the Middle East land wars to European defense. And they are doing so without the benefit have having F-35s in their operating force. Both the II MEF and 2nd MAW commanders explicitly noted how important they saw the CH-53K for them in working that transition as they begin to operate the aircraft in their operating force.

And they are looking to leverage the new aircraft as they evolve their concepts of operations. Interestingly, 2nd MAW will be transitioning to the F-35B in the same time frame as the coming of the CH-53K which will provide an opportunity to think through how the two aircraft can interact in shaping the wing’s concepts of operations.

In discussing this development with Col. Perrin, he underscored the significant interaction which the CH-53K can have with the expeditionary basing capabilities inherent in the F-35B as a S/TOVAL aircraft. He underscored that “we can bring three 800-gallon fuel tanks with us. That’s 2,400 gallons of fuel. This means we can support multiple aircraft with all that fuel.

“That also means that the aircraft can land and get re-armed and receive fuel in a single landing operation at an expeditionary base rather than having to land to get re-armed and do an air-refueling to get fuel.”

During a recent exercise involving 2nd MAW Marines, they worked in Finland and learned how the Finns operated from roads to work in high threat environments. They also worked with the Finns in shaping the Marines own capability to do so. With CH-53K support, such coalition operations could support Marine F-35Bs or coalition aircraft whether it be the Swedish Gripens or the Finn’s F-18s.

And when thinking of expeditionary basing and support, there is another way to look at how to use that other F-35 flown by Marines, namely the F-35C.

That kind of flexibility is crucial as the U.S and its allies work the flexibility and ability necessary to operate across the combat chessboard against peer or near-peer competitors.

During a visit to MAWTS-1 last year, an F-35 pilot, Major Shockley, highlighted the impact of F35-B thinking on base mobility. In my book Training for the High-End Fight, I discussed with him how this thinking might apply to the entire F-35 force and to take advantage of the kind of expeditionary fuel support which the CH-53K could provide.

The F-35As and F-35Cs have some advantages in terms of fuel, and then range and loitering time with regard to the B, notably with regard to the C. Because the force is so inherently integratable, how best to work the chessboard of conflict with regard to where the various F-35 pieces move on the chessboard. From this standpoint, he argued for the importance of shaping a “rolodex of basing locations” where F-35s could land and operate in a crisis.

He had in mind, not only what the very basing flexible B could provide but thinking through deployment of “expeditionary landing gear” to allow the A’s and C’s to operate over a wider range of temporary air bases as well.

Here, he was referring to preparing locations with the gear to enable landing on shorter run “airfields” as well as the kind of modifications the Norwegians have done with their F-35s enabling them to land in winter conditions in the High North as well.

With the F-35B as well, a much wider range of afloat assets are being used to enable the F-35 as a “flying combat system” to operate and enable ISR, C2, and strike capabilities for the joint and coalition force. This is being demonstrated throughout the amphibious fleet, a fleet which can be refocused on sea control and sea denial rather than simply transporting force to the littorals.

A key consideration when highlighting what the F-35 as a wolfpack can bring to the force is deploying in the force multiples that make sense for the force. This rests upon how the combat systems are configured on that force. In simple terms, the integrated CNI systems operate through a multiple layer security system, allowing a four ship F-35 force to operate as one.

With the Block IV software coming into the fleet, now an eight ship F-35 force can operate similarly. This allows for wolfpack operations and with the ability of the reach of the F-35 into other joint or coalition F-35 force packages the data flowing into the F-35 and the C2 going out has a very significant reach and combat impact.

This is not widely known or understood but provides a significant driver of change to being able to operate and prevail in denied combat environments.

Leveraging this capability is critical for combat success for the U.S. and allied forces in the Pacific.

And my visits to NAWDC and MAWTs-1 certainly underscored that these warfighters get that.

CH-53K^TM and King Stallion^TM are trademarks of the Department of the Navy

Featured Photo: U.S. Marines with Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron 1 (VMX-1) extract Marines with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2d Marine Regiment (1/2), 2d Marine Division (MARDIV), from a landing zone in Camp Lejeune, N.C., June 10, 2021. Marines with 1/2 executed an air assault operation in support of VMX-1 to test the capabilities of the CH-53K King Stallion, the U.S. Marine Corps’ newest heavylift helicopter. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Patrick King)

By Robbin Laird

During my July 2021 visit to 2^nd Marine Air Wing, I had a chance to meet with the leadership of MAG-14.

I met with Col. Williams, the MAG-14 Commanding Officer, Lt. Col. Harrell, the MAG-14 Executive Officer and Maj. Cunningham, the MAG-14 Operations Officer. Based at Cherry Point, MAG-14 operates AV-8B Harriers, KC-130Js and the RQ-21A Blackjack. It is in transition from the Harriers to F-35s, and their KC-130Js are key enablers for the entire MAGTF.

2^nd MAW includes Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (VMFAT-501), the Warlords, which is an F-35 training squadron at MCAS Beaufort.

But the coming of operational F-35s to MAG-14 and 2^nd MAW will be another driver of transformation of 2^nd MAW capabilities. Operationally, 2^nd MAW deploys all over the globe, to include recently working with allied F-35s in the North Atlantic and European theaters in the recent BALTOPS-50 exercise.

But transition is always challenging, and one can see significant construction in preparation for the standup of the F-35 at the base.

As Col. Williams put it: “We are in transition as we wind down the Harriers and get ready for the arrival of the F-35s in the 2023 timeframe.

“We are scheduled to receive the first six aircraft in late FY23, while VMU-2 will transition from the RQ-21 to Reapers in the FY25 timeframe.”

“We will continue to support the East Coast MEUs with Harriers, and will be sustaining the Harrier force through fiscal year 2028. When the F-35s take over the East Coast MEU’s duty that will represent a significant transformation.”

The first hangar is being built as well as the simulator building for the F-35s coming to the base. As Col. Williams noted: “We will eventually have two more hangars. A new headquarters will be built for MAG-14 as well.”

The challenge is to make the transition, but to maintain the readiness of the current force. 

Managing the two dynamics is the challenge which the MAG-14 leadership is facing. The Harriers deploy with the MEUs and as the MEUs transition towards more North Atlantic defense missions as opposed to Eastern Mediterranean missions.

The pilot and maintainer force will transition as the F-35s come onboard at Cherry Point as well.

And this aspect is a key one in managing the transition as well; the Service has used incentive programs, such as Selective Retention Bonus to encourage reenlistment and continued service of highly qualified Marines—particularly aviation maintainers.

We then discussed the KC-130J.

My own observation over the years is that the KC-130J is crucial to Marine Corps operations by providing logistic support, air-to-air refueling and close air support to fleet operating forces.

As a multi-sensor image reconnaissance and close air support platform, the KC-130J aircraft may be equipped with the Harvest Hercules Airborne Weapons Kit (HAWK) configuration as well.

The Marine Corps has integrated the Harvest HAWK system, that provides the Battlefield Commander with a limited, persistent surveillance capability with the onboard Production Target Sight Sensor (TSS).

The TSS can also provide the ability to employ precision weapons using laser guidance.

A core focus for MAG-14 is ensuring the readiness of the aircraft and crews for the KC-130Js.

Given the aging inventory of aircraft, this is a key challenge going forward.

There has been a new focus on the long-range firing function which the USMC could participate in as they address evolving concepts of operations for extended littoral operations, such as the Marine Littoral Regiment. 

The MLR is a purpose built unit designed to enable the Marine Corps’ new service strategy and employs three uniquely designed subordinate elements: a Littoral Combat Team, a Littoral Anti-Air Battalion, and a Littoral Logistics Battalion.

The LCT is designed to provide the basis for employing multiple platoon-reinforced-sized expeditionary advance base sites that can host and enable a variety of missions such as long-range anti-ship fires, forward arming and refueling of aircraft, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance of key maritime terrain, and air-defense and early warning.

It has seemed to me that the Harvest HAWK experience could be leveraged here in terms of either working with longer range missiles, or adapting a Harvest HAWK capability for the Ospreys to provide rapid insertion fires into the fight.

There is also the clear possibility that airlifters can be modified by using missiles in the box to be able to carry weapons that can be launched from the back of the aircraft.

Clearly, kill web approaches can allow for that, and setting up advanced expeditionary bases of C2 or sensor operating Marines supporting air-delivered fires is more expeditious than trying to move first to EABOs themselves.

MAG-14 is in transition, but it can be viewed as maintaining the competitive edge within a larger transition of the USMC itself.

Author’s Note: All three officers are C-130 drivers by trade and one with previous EA-6B Electronic Countermeasures Officer experience. This includes Harvest HAWK work as well, the USMC innovative approach to weaponization of the airlifter.

Featured Photo: ATLANTIC OCEAN (DEC. 14, 2019) A U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 365 (reinforced), 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, arrives aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) for deployment in the Atlantic Ocean Dec. 14, 2019. The Bataan is operating in the Atlantic Ocean in support of naval operations to maintain maritime stability and security in order to ensure access, deter aggression and defend U.S., allied and partner interests. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Tanner Seims)

By Robbin Laird

During my visit to 2^nd Marine Air Wing in July 2021, I had a chance to discuss the way ahead for the assault support community with the Commanding Officer of MAG-29, Col. Joyce, and with Maj. Bowing, the Operations Officer for MAG-29.

In terms of aircraft, MAG-29 has CH-53E in the heavy lift squadrons, and AH-1Z Vipers and UH-1Y Venoms in their light attack helicopter squadrons.

The Marine Corps is scheduled to deliver the CH-53K to MAG-29, as well as adding Link 16 and full motion video capabilities to the H-1 assets.

These upgrades will provide significant options for the aircraft to support the way ahead as part of the evolving capabilities for the assault force.

For Col. Joyce, the return of naval integration is really the return to his roots in his initial operational time in the USMC.

He has also served on the Navy staff in the N98 Air Warfare Division as the Marine Corps officer working with Naval aviation, where discussions of how to leverage and integrate the Marine’s role as naval aviators into the future maritime fight were a daily event. Non-Marines often forget that Marine Corps aviators are indeed Naval aviators and as such provide a key access point in the effort to find new ways to integrate the two forces.

As Col. Joyce put it: “We are really talking about reintegrating our Naval Force.

“Getting back to our roots as a Corps to provide Fleet Marine Forces for service with the Fleet.

“Our history over the past six decades may be filled with periods of sustained operations ashore, but our legacy as a Corps is that of naval campaigning, amphibious operations, and the conduct of such land operations as may be essential to the prosecution of a naval campaign.

“Today’s reintegration focus is oriented on a vision of maritime warfighting designed to posture the Naval Force for the next six decades.”

Col. Joyce entered the Marine Corps towards the end of the Cold War and is one of the officers I have interviewed in the Navy or the USMC over the past three years that brings real operational experience in this strategic competition environment.

Major Bowing has been part of the Huey community from the beginning of his time in the USMC and has served for three years in MAWTS-1 working assault support training and concepts of operations.

One issue we discussed was the integration of Link-16 and full motion video upgrades for the H-1s and their potential impact.

Col. Joyce put it this way: “I believe the integration of Link-16 along with many other digital interoperability (DI) efforts should help us look at ourselves differently moving forward.

“I would argue the attack and utility community over the last 20 years largely viewed our pursuit of DI efforts such as Link-16 from a consumer’s perspective. Meaning, we wanted the ability to ingest mostly targeting data via Link-16 to create a tactical effect on the battlefield from our own platform.

“I would also suggest this idea is consistent with the way we’ve been tactically employed over the past two decades.

“But the future of naval campaigning and maritime warfighting, especially within the close-in, confined, and contested key maritime terrain of the littorals, requires the HMLA community to view ourselves much more as participants and enablers of larger kill chains and kill webs.

“This means attack and utility capabilities out forward – acting as an extension of the Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) – to screen, scout, and sense within both the landward and seaward areas of the littorals.

“As participants in a larger kill web, we must be able to gather, disseminate, receive, exploit, and/or act on the information depending on the tactical task assigned.”

“Our core missions within Assault Support Aviation will remain vital in future littoral battles – conducting assault support operations, providing forward arming and refueling points, conducting aviation reconnaissance and surveillance, and conducting aviation delivered fires remain core competencies of the future force.

“What is different from our recent past is the explicit focus on supporting Surface Warfare and Sea Denial operations.”

“What do we bring to that fight?

“Where are the warfighting gaps?

“Can we fill those gaps?

“Should we fill those gaps?

“How do we contribute to anti-surface warfare (ASuW) missions?”

“These are some of the questions we’re looking at right now within MAG-29.

“We are the only Service viewing this future environment through the lens of a Stand-In (versus Stand-Off) force.

“How do we contribute to Surface Warfare and Sea Denial operations as part of the Stand-In Force?

“How do we continue to provide close-in support to the MLR maneuvering throughout the landward area of the littorals in a high-threat non-permissive environment, while enabling the larger kill web oriented on Sea Denial operations within the seaward area of the shallow blue waters?

“Are we postured through ongoing DI initiatives to gather, disseminate, receive, and exploit information across subsurface, surface, air, and information domains?

“I would argue this is a paradigm shift in mindset from our operations over the past 20 years in the desert.

“Lethality across Assault Support Aviation, including our heavy lift platform, remains a critical as ever in the future fight.

“But our ability to screen, scout, and sense within the littorals and then contribute to the larger kill web may be even more important in the years to come.”

Looking ahead, the leadership of 2d MAW is clearly looking at working towards the tactical missions that are likely to be dominant in the 2030 timeframe.

As Col. Joyce hammered home: “There is absolutely a critical role for Assault Support Aviation looking forward. When you look at the shear expanse of geography, force dispersion and distribution, and challenges with our maritime logistics fleet in just one example, I can’t envision a situation where somebody tells me we have too much heavy lift capability.

“What we must do as a community to help the larger Force Design effort is to focus our analysis on capabilities, rather than specific platforms.

“We must experiment ruthlessly with those capabilities through the lens of future tactical tasks and missions.

“And then focus our platform modernization efforts and develop aviation tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to deliver those needed capabilities to the Fleet Marine Force.”

His earlier discussion with regard to how assault support can contribute to sea control and sea denial is an example of what he means by looking at capabilities through different tactical or mission lenses.

Rather than define the mission sets by the primary operations of the past twenty years in the Middle East, the aperture is being opened to correlate capabilities with evolving mission sets.

They are adding the CH-53K to the force, and Col. Joyce underscored that the new platform brings new capabilities to the force.

But rather than simply describing how the platform is replacing the CH-53E, the focus needs to be upon how to leverage new capabilities to deal with evolving mission sets. The Marine Corps has been investing in capabilities to  respond globally to crisis and contingency and build the capabilities to compete and blunt potential adversary’s aggression.

As Col. Joyce put it: “Logistics is our pacing function.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s the High North or the Indo-Pacific.

“Assured logistics, assured movement, and assured sustainment of the force requires the capabilities that the heavy lift team brings to the fight. And the CH-53E and future CH-53K is the only heavy lift rotary-wing capability within the Department of Defense.

“The CH-53K is simply an exponential leap in heavy lift capability in terms of range, payload, and digital interoperability.”

“No one can predict with precision what the future holds. Advances in long-range precision strike, unmanned systems, loitering munitions, low earth orbit system sensing, and AI/ML will change how we currently perform our warfighting missions.

“But Close Air Support, Strike, Aerial Delivery, Assault Transport, Air Evacuation, and Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel to name a few absolutely have a future role in the Nation’s Crisis Response force.”

Major Bowing built on the discussion and added a core point, namely the weaponizing of communication.

The sharing of information and data as part of the shaping of enhanced capabilities for an integrated distributed force is a key part of the way ahead for shaping the role for the assault support community.

We did not discuss the following point specifically, but if one combines a number of thoughts which have been shared by Marines at both II MEF and 2^nd MAW with me, the blending of assault support with C2/ISR warfare could well emerge from the process of working integration with the Navy.

In an August 2021 exercise, we will see the establishment of an advanced expeditionary sensor base built around a G/ATOR Radar.

The assault support community – notably by heavy lift – can deliver that radar to such a base.

The C2 community is very capable of not only supporting G/ATOR at that base but could fly in the Osprey, which is an assault support asset, and with a roll-on roll of capability, provide the C2 linkages from that sensor base to the key combat nodes in the kill web, as was done in last year’s Deep Water exercise.

One could establish on another advanced expeditionary base information warfare Marines or MIG- combat members who could contribute to spoofing, jamming, or various disinformation efforts in support of the deployed force, and again that would be a payload delivered by the assault support force.

In other words, the assault support community can deliver a wider array of payloads than simply direct kinetic force.

Indeed, if one focuses on maritime kill webs, the Marines really do not need to carry weapons to the point of attack; they can deploy capabilities which can find targets, communicate those targets to other fire solution combat capabilities, and contribute to the electronic warfare aspects of the fight.

With the flexibility inherent in roll-on roll of capabilities on the Osprey a variety of mission support elements could be put on the unique tiltrotor-enabled range and speed asset.

And with an ability to put interior fuel cells into the Osprey, endurance is enabled as well.

In other words, capabilities seen through the lens of expanded mission sets can drive the transformation process.

Featured Photo: A Marine Corps UH-1Y Huey and two AH-1Z Vipers with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 167 conduct training at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, July 16, 2020. HMLA-167 conducted flight operations to improve proficiency and maintain mission readiness. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Juan Dominguez)

 

According to a press release published on July 29, 2021 from NAVAIR, the U.S. Navy has conducted first MQ-4C Triton test flight with multi-intelligence upgrade.

The Navy conducted its first test flight of the MQ-4C Triton in its upgraded hardware and software configuration July 29 at NAS Patuxent River, beginning the next phase of the unmanned aircraft’s development. 

The MQ-4C Triton flew in its new configuration, known as Integrated Functional Capability (IFC)-4, which will bring an enhanced multi-mission sensor capability as part of the Navy’s Maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting (MISR&T) transition plan.

Triton’s Integrated Test Team (ITT) comprised of the U.S. Navy, Australian cooperative partners, and government/industry teams completed a functional check flight and initial aeromechanical test points, demonstrating stability and control of the MQ-4C after a 30-month modification period.  

“Today’s flight is a significant milestone for the program and a testament to the resolve of the entire ITT, their hard work, and passion for test execution and program success,” said Capt. Dan Mackin, Persistent Maritime Unmanned Aircraft Systems program manager. “This flight proves that the program is making significant progress toward Triton’s advanced multi-intelligence upgrade and it brings us closer to achieving the initial operational capability (IOC) milestone.” 

Multiple Triton assets have been modified into the IFC-4 configuration in support of IOC in 2023.  A single test asset is in the current IFC-3 configuration to support sustainment of deployed systems as well as risk reduction for IFC-4. 

Currently, two MQ-4C Triton aircraft in the baseline configuration known as IFC-3 are forward deployed to 7th Fleet in support of early operational capability (EOC) and Commander Task Force (CTF)-72 tasking. VUP-19 will operate Triton to further develop the concept of operations and fleet learning associated with operating a high-altitude, long-endurance system in the maritime domain.

“The MQ-4C Triton has already had a tremendous positive impact on operations in USINDOPACOM and will continue to provide unprecedented maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities which are especially critical to national interests with the increased focus in the Pacific,” Mackin said.

Triton is the first high altitude, long endurance aircraft that can conduct persistent Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions to complement the P-8 in the maritime domain. The Navy plans to deploy Triton to five orbits worldwide. 

Featured Photo: An MQ-4C Triton flew its first test flight in its new hardware and software configuration July 29 at NAS Patuxent River, Md. The new configuration will bring an enhanced multi-mission sensor capability as part of the Navy’s Maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting (MISR&T) transition plan. (U.S. Navy photo)