In an effort to be in compliance with GDPR we are providing you with the latest documentation about how we collect, use, share and secure your information, we want to make you aware of our updated privacy policy here
Enter your name and email address below to receive our newsletter.
Arriving at Boeing’s Philadelphia site, one is presented with a large industrial park where Boeing produces the venerable Chinook and a significant part of the world’s only military tiltrotor aircraft, the Osprey. And on the Boeing line, CV-22s as well as MV-22s are produced with the final product coming out from the partner plant in Texas run by Bell.
The graphic below shows the division of labor between the two companies with the section in blue highlighting what one can see produced at the plant in Philadelphia.
The plane has matured in the past few years, and it is making combat history.
And as it does so, allies are looking to buy the aircraft.
In addition, the US Navy has decided to replace its venerable C-2 or Greyhound with the V-22 to play the COD or Carrier On-board delivery role.
The core competence of the MV-22 as a revolutionary combat assault asset or the CV-22 as a special forces asset is being joined by evolving multi-mission capabilities for the aircraft as well, first up being an air refueling capability.
What is clear from visiting the plant is that the manufacturing process has matured and along with it the upgrade process as well.
The Osprey has reached a critical juncture whereby it can become a global product, if the supply chain catches up with the production process.
In this piece, the focus will be upon the maturing of the production process as seen from visiting the composite center of excellence as well as the final assembly line at the plant.
The Composite Production Facility: A Dynamic Working Relationship between Humans and Robots
Composite technology and the ability to manufacture key parts via composite materials is a key reason for the viability of the aircraft.
Producing composite parts is a key part of the production process.
Given that composite raw material is stored and shipped frozen, the part production process is time-sensitive as the clock starts ticking from the time the material begins to thaw, until it is ultimately cured, finished, and moved to the assembly process.
It is a very complex choreography to get this process right.
Tom Jablonski, head of the Composites Center of Excellence (CCOE), provided the tour of the facility and insights with regard to the production process.
His background is in both civilian and military composites and obviously this is an area where cross cutting innovations in the military and civilian sectors help one another.
Tom Jablonski, head of the Composites Center of Excellence. and Rick Lemaster, Director of V-22 Tiltrotor Business Development, with Murielle Delaporte and Robbin Laird.
Question: How would you describe the choreography necessary for the production process?
Jablonski: “That is a good term to describe the process.
We start with raw material receipt. We have a large freezer outside of the center to store bulk raw material received from the supply chain.
We then stage material about to be introduced into the manufacturing process in a smaller freezer inside the center.
When we are ready to start the process, that raw material is issued to one of several machines for cut or automated lay-up.
We have four automated raw material cutters. This material is cut into “kits” and then paired with the corresponding tool. We have all sorts of Bond Assembly Jigs (BAJs) in addition to molds, caul plates, and other consumable tooling that aid in developing and maintaining the part size and shape.
Our Industrial Engineering team controls order release, the start of the manufacturing process. These load decisions are based on tool availability, takt time of the manufacturing process, and assembly flow. Right now, the V-22 Assembly process is building at a pace that supports our customer funding and demand.”
Jablonski added that increasing the scope of work by including some minor sub-assembly processes enables them to deliver a more finished part to the production process as well.
And robots have entered the process as a key part of improving the process.
A trajectory was evident from visiting the facility whereby in a very short period of time – five years – large automated machines are being replaced by commercial robotic machines imported from abroad but with unique, Boeing-developed components to facilitate the actual manufacturing process.
This has not only reduced man-hours in the process, it has improved cost as well.
With the larger automated machines, maintenance and machine downtime was significant.
With the newer robots, these machines are more reliable.
Large, heavy tools are no longer needed to move; the robot moves about the tool, reducing the wear and tear on the machine and hence cost.
Jablonski: “From a technology perspective, a lot of the early automated fiber placement technology was very specific, very rudimentary, and not overly efficient.
We had one of the first fiber placement machines in industry, to the best of my knowledge, installed in the early ‘90s.
This machine has since been replaced by a robot.
The robot itself is off-the-shelf, so we didn’t develop robotic technology because there was no need.
77658fade1.05.0
We developed the head of this robot to handle the high tolerance manufacturing of these composite parts.
This head sits on the end of a robot that another company had already developed and perfected.
Part of the ramp-up in production was enabled by this technology.
It gave us the ability to achieve certain material placement and steering that was not achievable by hand.
This in turn gave us a more efficient solution to manufacture complex composite parts and assemblies that are ultimately installed on the airplane.
It helped us remain on the cutting edge of technology, highlighting that robotic technology with respect to fiber placement is far more scientific than some of the older machines still on the floor.
Older, by the way, was brand new five-plus years ago. So state-of-the-art technology five years ago is already less efficient than the current fiber placement options.”
The plant builds hundreds of parts for the V-22.
Five parts are built by machine – two drag angles (right and left), two side skins (right and left) and a large, monolithic aft section.
The balance of these parts are laid-up by hand.
The automated trim cell section of the composite center of excellence has several interesting machines as well.
Jablonski: “A consideration for a composite fabricator when trimming a part is how to hold it still.
How do you hold a very large part that you’d like to trim the periphery of?
As part of the Trim Cell itself, we have another machine, a universal holding fixture (UHF), and it’s essentially a table.
It has an elaborate electronic control system that determines the coordinates of the part in space, and adjusts the height of several dozen “pogos” to match the contour of the part, and then it applies suction to pull that part against the pogos, holding the part still so the machine can do its thing.”
The Final Assembly Line
Jim Curren, senior manager of Operations, provided the tour of the FAL and from the tour, it was clear that the approach implemented with regard to the FAL at Boeing’s Philadelphia site has two clear advantages.
First, there is a single assembly line where by the MV-22 and CV-22 are built.
The modifications for the CV-22 are done at the appropriate station in the line and with the workers who do those mods adjacent to that work station in the production flow.
This means that when the Navy V-22 is built the same assembly line can be built with the modifications of that aircraft done within the established work flow.
Second, the initial workstation is where the electronics are matted to the key sections and then those sections are connected together prior to moving to the next workstation.
This means that the numbers of workers necessary in the second workstation can be reduced to enhance efficiency of production as well.
Curren highlighted the growing role of robots on the FAL as well.
“We keep looking for better ways of building the aircraft in the eyes of affordability.
In that process, robots are getting a lot of attention, more so now than ever.
They’ve come a long way, so we’re three years into implementing or incorporating a robot into our structures build process.”
In short, the investments in the machinery to provide for high tolerance manufacturing and the skill of the workers in operating the machinery and working the production process along with effective management are key drivers in shaping the maturity of the production process on display at Boeing’s Philadelphia site.
Editor’s Note: The CV-22 is different from the MV-22 in the following manner, according to NAVAIR:
“The CV-22 is equipped with a unique suite of integrated threat countermeasures, terrain-following radar and other advanced avionics systems that allow it to operate at low altitude in adverse weather conditions and medium- to high-threat environments.”
This is the second in a six part series on the Osprey, its maturation and the next phase of its development.
The visit to the Boeing facility was done by Robbin Laird and Murielle Delaporte, with Delaporte’s pieces to appear in the French press later this summer.
This September, the Osprey will reach an 8-year mark in its operational deployment history.
In September 2007, the Osprey was deployed for the first time to Iraq.
The USMC Commandant Conway and Deputy Commandant of Aviation Castellaw announced and made the decision to deploy the Osprey into combat although virtually all public commentators thought this was too early for an “untested” airplane, as one critic put it.
The plane has not only done well, but in 8 short years has demonstrated its capability to have not only a significant impact on combat but to re-shape thinking about concepts of operations.
Now let us take the story forward as the first global sales of the Osprey have occurred, and the prospects for a new global phase of the Osprey evolution comes into view.
The First Five Years
During the first five years, the Osprey was introduced first into Iraq and then began operating in Afghanistan.
Early deployments were challenging in terms of support and taking the steps to begin to learn the transition from a helo enabled assault force to a tiltrotar assault force.
And at sea, this learning would take the USN-USMC team to rethink the deployment of the classic three-ship formation of the ARG-MEU and to move the ships further away from one another, and to expand the operational engagement area of the ARG-MEU.
It was used for assault operations from the beginning but over time, the role would expand as the support structure matured, readiness rates grew and airplane availability become increasingly robust.
The Osprey’s speed and range meant that the very large number of forward operating bases which rotorcraft require were not needed, and this became crucial as the drawdown in Afghanistan occurred.
And this would lead to the Osprey being tasked with the Army’s medevac mission as the golden hour could NOT be met by the Army with the draw down of bases.
The Marines were tasked to provide for this capability because of its ability to cover Afghanistan without numerous FOBs.
When Odyssey Dawn entered the picture in early 2011, the Osprey altered the performance of the ARG-MEU and provided a core capability ensuring that a downed pilot did not become a political pawn by Qaddafi.
The ability to link seamlessly support services ashore with the deployed fleet via the Osprey allowed the Harriers aboard the USS Kearsarge to increase their sortie rates dramatically.
By providing a whole new speed and range enablement of the strike fleet aboard a large deck amphibious ship, the future was being re-defined by the Osprey.
The USN began to see a whole new way to look at COD or carrier on-board delivery!
MV-22 Osprey Landing Aboard the USNS Robert E. Peary during the Bold Alligator exercise. Shaping an ability to move systems around on platforms, and islands or on Allied bases will be a key to shaping a new Pacific strategy.Credit: USN
As Lt. Col. Boniface, commanding officer of VMM 266, but the Osprey leader in Operation Odyssey Dawn, argued:
A complete transformation to how we are doing business has been involved by operating the Osprey. In order for the USS Kearsarge, the ARG and the 26th MEU to stay in their operational box during Operation ODESSEY DAWN, and enable the Harriers to continue their strike mission, we were reliant on other assets to supply us. For many supply items, the Osprey provided the logistical link to allow the ARG to stay on station and not have to move towards at sea re-supply points and meet re-supply ships.
Without the Osprey you would have to pull the USS Kearsarge out of its operational box and send it somewhere where it can get close enough to land or get close enough to resupply ships to actually do the replenishment at sea. Or you would be forced to remain where you are at and increase the time you’re going to wait for this part by three, four days or even a week.
The ARG ships are only moving at 14-15 knots. At best, let’s just say they move an average of 13 knots per hour, and add that up for the 300 miles that you have to sail. Now you’re looking at least a day to get the needed folks, parts or equipment and then the transit time back to the operational box. The V22 will do that in a couple hours and allow the ARG/MEU to keep executing its mission.
And the five-year transition was marked by a further demonstration of transformatory impact in the “return to the sea” associated with the initiation of the Bold Alligator exercises begun in 2011.
At the time of the launching of this series of exercises the goal was defined as follows:
Bold Alligator is designed to revitalize the fundamental roles of the Navy and Marine Corps team as “fighters from the sea” and will focus on conducting major amphibious operations simultaneously with a non-combatant evacuation exercise.
“The nature of amphibious forces is that we’re extremely flexible and can be specifically tailored to any mission at any time,” said Rear Adm. Kevin Scott, commander of ESG 2. “Bold Alligator 2011 represents the ongoing efforts in meeting the challenges of future warfare conflicts, overseas contingency operations and homeland defense, so we remain the world’s premier amphibious force.”
But the Osprey was redefining amphibious assault.
It was no longer about being close to shore and launching amphibious vehicles; it was defining your assault vector and moving into the objective area from a much greater distance with Ospreys as a tip of the spear insertion force.
The existence, deployment and appearance of the Osprey changed the entire approach to thinking about amphibious assault. During Bold Alligator 2012, while observers stood on the beach waiting for the assault, Ospreys were already part of taking an “enemy” fort deep in the terrain. And not only that but one of the Ospreys deployed from a supply ship!
The next three years from 2012 until now have seen the maturing of the Marine Corps in its use of Ospreys to the point whereby the Marines, as the only tiltrotar-enabled assault force in the world, are redefining force insertion.
A number of key developments have unfolded since 2012.
The Next 3 Years: The Battle Tested Osprey
First, the battle testing has continued for the Osprey and its ability to survive in tough conditions clearly proven.
The redundancy of systems aboard the aircraft, and the performance of the composite systems to take battle damage have been clearly combat proven.
The story of what two Marine aviators did to be the first V-22 Osprey pilots awarded Distinguished Flying Crosses is simple, elegant, and and tactically telling. The double-DFC incident underscores how the Marines are using the unique tilt-rotor aircraft — which can take off and land like a helicopter, then fly long distances at high speeds like an airplane — and its ability to perform in extreme battlefield conditions.
I interviewed the two pilots, Major Michael Hutchings and Captain David Haake, at New River Air Station.
Here’s what happened in Afghanistan in June 2012. Two Ospreys, operating with conventional helicopters — Hueys and Cobras — were supporting the insertion of a Marine reconnaissance battalion. The Ospreys, piloted by Maj. Hutchings and Capt. Haake, were flying in a two-ship formation and planning to put down Marines in two waves.
Major Hutchings after the SLD interview. Credit Photo: SLD
The first wave went well, and the Ospreys returned to insert the second group of Marines, to provide the enough armed manpower to perform the mission in Taliban infested territory.
As Hutching’s V-22 came down it took heavy fire, which so damaged the plane that the systems on board told the pilot to not fly the aircraft. Of course, not flying was to face certain death, so the task for the pilot and the crew was to find a way out. The plane was badly damaged, but because of the various redundant systems on board and the skill of the pilot and the crew, they were able to depart and to make it back to Camp Bastion in airplane mode. With a traditional rotorcraft, of course, you do not have the relative luxury of switching between two modes of travel.
As Haake followed Hutching in, the Hueys and Cobras informed him that Taliban were occupying the area around the intended landing zone. Haake took his plane up and took stock of his options. While he did, he learned that Hutchings had landed and was under attack, which meant that Haake had little choice but to insert Marines to reinforce the reconnaissance battalion. He did, also under heavy fire. His plane was badly damaged as well and also had on board a wounded Afghan soldier working with the Marines.
In addition to battle damage to the aircraft, the plane was leaking fuel very badly. This meant that the pilot and crew knew they could not make it back to Camp Bastion, but would have to land at a Forward Operating Base, which also had medical support, about 20 miles away. Again, flying on helicopter mode, the plane and crew made it to the base.
But for Maj. Hutchings, the day was not yet over. This was a night insertion so the Marines needed to be extricated the next day. Hutchings flew an Osprey the next morning as part of the effort to pick up the Marines and get them out. Hutchings landed the plane and took onboard the Marines, who were firing at the enemy as they boarded the plane. The Osprey took off to altitude with speed. “I asked the crew chief after about 10 minutes how the Marines in the back were doing. He said they were asleep,” Hutchings added.
Although their tale is the most dramatic testimony to the maturing of the Osprey, it was not the only one I heard. Frank “Blaine” Rhobotham, the Remain Behind Element Officer in Charge of VMM-365, provided another example of the impact of the Osprey and its maturity. He was the head maintainer involved in preparing the Special Purpose MAGTF, which now operates out of Southern Europe and is available to support missions in Africa and the Mediterranean.
Rhobotham discussed the very short period from the generation of the concept of the Special Purpose MAGTF to its execution. It took about eight months from inception to deployment. He emphasized the flexibility of the force and its light footprint. “With a six-ship Osprey force supported by three C-130s we can move it as needed. The three C-130s are carrying all the support equipment to operate the force as well.”
The flexibility which the Osprey now offers Combatant Commanders and US defense officials is a major strategic and tactical tool for the kind of global reality the US now faces, requiring rapid support and insertion of force.
The Next Three Years: SP-MAGTF
Second, there has been the formation, deployment and now high demand use of what the Marines have called Special Purpose Crisis Response MAGTFs.
The first SP-MAGTF was formed in 2013 and leveraging the Osprey-KC130J combination provide a force for supporting humanitarian or crisis interventions.
The Operational Reach of the SP-MAGTF SR in miles. Credit Graphic: SLD
In an interview done at the time with Brigadier General James S. O’Meara then commander, U.S. Marine Forces Europe, and deputy commander, U.S. Marine Forces Africa, the role of the new force structure was explained.
The SP-MAGTF is the basic Marine Corps air ground team or MAGTF approach but applied to a Special Purpose Mission.
Special means it’s uniquely tailored to a particular mission or a few mission sets.
In this case, the focus is upon security embassy reinforcements or a noncombatant evacuation.
Also, it is a rotational force, which provides a crisis response force able, to deal with EUCOM and AFRICOM needs.
General Dempsey provided strategic guidance, which was looking for a force, which operates with a small footprint, and is low-cost, and rotational. This is the answer to that guidance.
The SP-MAGTF meets the need to respond rapidly to a developing situation either proactively or reactively with a small force with a small footprint and has its own organic air, which means that it has operational reach as well.
The force is trained and operational and currently operating from a USAF base at Moran in Spain.
SLD: The SP-MAGTF can reach into Africa or operate throughout the Mediterranean. Obviously, the Osprey is the enabler of such a force along with your organic lift and tanking.
Marines boarding Ospreys for the SP-MAGTF training mission in December 2013. Credit: Murielle Delaporte
If you had only helos, this kind of force capability would not be possible, I would assume?B.G. O’Meara: That clearly is correct. We can operate over a significant combat radius and of course, refueled with our C-130Js can reach throughout the region and all while carrying equipment, and/or two-dozen Marines inside.
It gives AFRICOM commander a unique tailored operational tactical level force with significant operational reach.
The V-22 allows for a paradigm shift and enables a force like SP-MAGTF. The V-22 gives you that C-130-like distance and speed with the versatility to land in confined, limited area, with no runway or an expeditionary LZ like a helicopter.
And when you add organic lift and tanking with our C-130Js, the reach is even greater and allows us to operate throughout Africa and the Mediterranean as needed.
And the self-deploying capabilities of the V-22 means that we can plus up the Osprey component as well as needed or other sites throughout the operating area.
And being Marines, it did not take long to go from formation of the capability to its use.
And when the co-founder of Second Line of Defense, Murielle Delaporte, visited the unit in Moran, Spain in late 2013, it was shortly before they deployed to South Sudan to deal with a crisis.
Her visit underscored the maxim that you train, deploy and train again to get the mission right.
The unit arrived in April 2013 and has engaged in extensive training and patterning with European and African units in preparing for missions in the AFRICOM and EURCOM areas of responsibility.
The Next Three Years: Reworking the GCE and the Osprey Tandem
Third, the impact of the Osprey on the Ground Combat Element is significant.
By operating off of the Osprey, the ability of the infantry to operate at distance, and range and to insert within a variety of access points is dramatically increased.
But to do so requires changes in Command and Control, and operational concepts.
And since 2012, these changes have been actively pursued through a variety of exercises and training efforts.
U.S. Marines with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 161 transport Marines on MV-22B Ospreys during Exercise Iron Fist 2014 to San Clemente Island, Calif., Feb. 14, 2014. Credit: 15th MEU
In a piece which Ed Timperlake and I wrote in May 2014, these innovations were highlighted.
The Marines have been experimenting over the past 15 months with new ways to connect the GCE within an insertion mission, and they are optimistic that their exercises can lead relatively soon to a deployed capability with Marine Expeditionary Units and Special Purpose MAGTFs focused on crisis response missions.
These units, then, can subsequently use the initial capability and drive further innovation.
The approach has been to deploy the Ground Combat Element (GCE) over a tilt-rotor-enabled distance and to insert the force with situational awareness, which can enhance mission success. By shaping new communications capability throughout the flight, the GCE getting off the Osprey is much better positioned for mission success.
With a shift from flying to engaging in a forward leaning operation, a number of key mobility requirements have been highlighted as well:
How to continue to provide SA to the insertion force throughout their mission on the ground?
How to simplify the communications packages and to make them easier to use?
How to shift from more static UAV concepts such as Shadow to a small “Kamikaze” UAV which can be pushed out of the Osprey and work with the mission?
How to leverage the F-35s Distributed Aperture System (DAS) capability and to push that information down to the lowest tactical level?
In other words, by working with a tilt-rotor-enabled force, the Marines are forward leaning their experimentation to procure technology that will enable new capabilities, and not simply fill legacy gaps.
The Next Three Years: The Arrival of the USS America
Fourth, a new ship is getting ready for deployment, the USS America which is built for the Osprey and the F-35B and will be part of the next phase of the evolution of the tiltrotar-enabled assault force.
The USS America is the largest amphibious ship ever built by the United States.
The ship has been built at the Huntington Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi and departed mid-July 2014 for its trip to its initial home part at San Diego, California and then was commissioned in San Francisco in mid-October 2014. It is now undergoing its final trials and preparing to enter the fleet.
The USS America has been built to facilitate this capability and will be augmented as the F-35B is added to the Ospreys, and helicopters already operating from the ship and as unmanned vehicles become a regular operational element as well.
The Osprey has obviously been a game changer, where today, the basic three ship formation used by the Amphibious Ready Group-Marine Expeditionary Unit can “disaggregate” and operate over a three-ship distributed 1,000-mile operational area. Having the communications and ISR to operate over a greater area, and to have sustainment for a disaggregated fleet is a major challenge facing the future of the USN-USMC team.
A major change in the ship can be seen below the flight deck, and these changes are what allow the assault force enabled by new USMC aviation capabilities to operate at greater range and ops tempo. The ship has three synergistic decks, which work together to support flight deck operations. Unlike a traditional large deck amphibious ship where maintenance has to be done topside, maintenance is done in a hangar deck below the flight deck. And below that deck is the intermediate area, where large workspaces exist to support operations with weapons, logistics and sustainment activities.
With the coming of the F-35B to the USS America, the tiltrotar-enabled force adds significant capability. This can work a couple of different ways.
The ship can hold more than 20 F-35Bs, but more likely when F-35Bs are being featured would have a 16 F-35B flying with 4 Osprey combinations. The Ospreys would be used to carry fuel and or weapons, so that the F-35B can move to the mission and operate in a distributed base. This is what the Marines refer to as shaping distributed STOVL ops for the F-35B within which a sea base is a key lily pad from which the plane could operate or could move from.
Alternatively, the F-35B could operate as the ISR, C2 and strike asset to work with the rest of the assault force. The beauty of the F-35B for the Marines is that it allows them to operate off of an amphibious ship with a plane which can do C2 or provide forward leaning ISR.
In other words, the F-35 working with an Osprey-enabled insertion force operating off of the USS American could well re-define the meaning of Close Air Support (CAS).
The F-35 could enter the objective area prior to the arrival of the combat landing team or CLT, push data back to the incoming force, and then provide fire support, “kinetic” and “non-kinetic,” C2 and ISR support during the insertion and operation.
The other new aviation, which will fly off of the USS America, is the CH-53K, which is the replacement for the CH-53E. Although less sexy than an Osprey or a JSF, the K is a backbone element for an airborne amphibious strike force. The CH-53K will be able to carry three times the load external to itself than can a CH-53E and has many operational improvements, such as a fly by wire system.
In short, when one looks at the outside of the USS America and sees a flight deck roughly the size of its predecessors, one would totally miss the point of how this ship fits into USN-USMC innovation.
Looking under the decks, understanding how a radical change in the workflow, enabling and operating with 21st century USMC strike and insertion assets, is how to understand the ship and its impact.
It is an enabler of 21st century amphibious assault operations and not simply an upgrade on the past.
And the result of eight years of operation and innovation is nothing less than creating a high demand force, the Osprey-enabled assault force, which is redefining ways to think about the insertion and withdrawal of force and new ways to engage, prevail and disengage.
V-22 Osprey in exercise at 29 Palms. Credit: USMC
This is part of the next phase of the evolution of the Osprey when married with the F-35B, namely to do some serious strategic rethinking on how to use newly crafted insertion forces.
Another part is the maturing of the production process, and the impact of the USAF and USMC in using the aircraft on perceptions of allies.
There are a number of allies interested in buying the plane.
But to get to this new phase, challenges need to be met and resolved to clear the path to the next phase, a global one for the Osprey.
Note: This is the first article in a multiple article series focusing on the maturation of the Osprey and its next phase based in part on visiting the Boeing Osprey plant at Ridley Park, Pennsylvania.
While there, we conducted interviews with senior staff with regard to the maturation of the Osprey from a production, evolving capabilities and sustainment point of view.
The first slideshow highlights U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Ospreys begin flight operations on the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), off of the coast of South Korea, April 2, 2015.
The aircraft are with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262 (Reinforced), 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Credit:31st Marine Expeditionary Unit:4/2/15
The second slideshow highlights the USS America transiting through the US Southern Command and US 4th Fleet area of responsibility on her maiden transit.
In the first photo, an MV-22 Osprey prepares to land aboard the future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6).
In the second photo, the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) pulls into Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for a scheduled port visit July 21, 2014. The ship is embarked on a mission to conduct training engagements with partner nations throughout the Americas before reporting to its new home port of San Diego. The America is to be ceremoniously commissioned Oct. 11, 2014.
In the third photo, Marines assigned to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force South load onto a tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey on the flight deck of future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) to participate in bilateral training exercises with Colombia’s military.America is the first ship of its class, replacing the Tarawa-class of amphibious assault ships. As the next generation “big-deck” amphibious assault ship, America is optimized for aviation, capable of supporting current and future aircraft such as the Osprey and F-35B Joint Strike Fighter
In the fourth photo, an MH-60S Seahawk takes off from the flight deck of future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) to participate in bilateral training exercises with Colombia’s military.
In the fifth photo, from right, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly, the commander of U.S. Southern Command, escorts Colombian Minister of Defense Juan Carlos Pinzon Bueno and U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Kevin Whitaker aboard the newly commissioned amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) July 17, 2014, in Cartagena, Colombia.
In the sixth photo, Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Charles Hill, assigned to the future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), fires a .50-caliber machine gun during a sustainment shoot. The crew conducts routine, live-fire courses to maintain qualifications and improve proficiency. America is currently traveling through the U.S. Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet area of responsibility on her maiden transit, “America visits the Americas.”
In the final photo, Aviation Electronics Technician 3rd Class Trevor Vindelov, assigned to the “Blackjacks” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 21, performs a corrosion inspection on a MH-60S Seahawk helicopter in the hangar bay of future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6).
Credit:USS America: July 31, 2014
With regard to the evolving relationship between the GCE and the Osprey and exercises working that relationship as of May 2014:
By working with a tilt-rotor-enabled force, the Marines are forward leaning their experimentation to procure technology that will enable new capabilities, and not simply fill legacy gaps.
The process has evolved through the course of four exercises through May 2014:
Credit Graphic: Second Line of Defense
March 2013: Initial long-range night raid experiment between Quantico and Parris Island
The process was started with an initial effort using local resources.
There is a growing sense that the GCE needs to better leverage the evolving capability of USMC aviation, and the exercises are one way to do a better job along these lines.
Captain Jason Deane of the Infantry Officer’s School (IOC) has summarized the approach and findings of this initial experiment in an article in the Marine Corps Gazette published in January 2014.
From January through March 2013 the Infantry Officer Course (IOC) conducted an experiment in a simulated urban littoral, anti access/area denial environment culminating in a long-range night raid between Marine Corps Base (MCB) Quantico and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) Parris Island.
Given potential future urban littoral environments, the experiment sought to determine the following:
With an acceptable risk level, can a platoon-sized or larger infantry unit fast rope out of MV–22s at night with a 50-to 60-pound combat load?
While in the back of MV–22s for approximately 2 hours, can this unit maintain voice and data communications to maximize situational awareness prior to insert?
Once on the ground 500 miles from the pickup-landing zone (PZ), can this unit maintain voice and data communications with its higher headquarters?
In addition, to connectivity lessons learned from the exercise, the Captain highlighted a key “gap” which has been the focus of the follow on exercises, but also highlights the need for technological innovation to follow the paths opened up by tilt-rotor technology, rather than staying in the rotorcraft enabled force era.
As was the case during this long-range raid, MV–22s quickly outrun all U.S. military rotary-wing close air support platforms—that is, unless these aircraft are forward staged near the objective area, which is by no means always practical or advisable if conducting a real-world mission.
Given rotary-wing close air support limitations when maximizing aspects of the MV–22’s potential, precision guided fires from naval platforms and/or fixed-wing CAS or armed unmanned aerial systems will typically be required to enable ground force actions within an objective area.
Such aviation assets might be on-station for hours prior to the ground force insert.
This said, if the ground force is flying to the objective area for hours in the back of MV–22s, we do not currently have the required capability to provide real-time information updates to our infantry Marines, to include still or full-motion video imagery.
What this meant for our mission was that once the force lifted off from Quantico, the lieutenants did not receive an update on enemy activity in the objective area until they were 10 minutes out from the objective.
This is an unacceptable information gap.
August 2013: Company Landing Team (CLT) operated from Quantico to Camp Blanding Florida in raid
In this experiment, the CLT operated over a 96-hour period, going considerable distance, operating hundreds of miles from its HHQ, against an enemy with anti-access capabilities. The 600-mile aerial assault involved an initial destruction raid and then the force operated as the initial forcible entry capability for a follow-on joint force.
Notably, the experiment focused on testing three core capabilities:
Long-range, air-ground command and control;
Distributed platoon operations with a CLT HQ element providing C2 back to Quantico (which simulated a distance intended for operations from amphibs or an intermediate state base);
Shaping requirements (TTPs) for expeditionary energy systems able to operate in tropical, thickly vegetated environments.
An interesting aspect of the experiment was to unintentionally highlight the limitations of the SHADOW UAV and to shape a clear need for a UAV which can be tossed out the back of the Osprey.
The SHADOW UAV is not expeditionary in any sense of the word, and the size of the team necessary to support it is a problem as well for an agile lean force looking for the kind of rapid force insertion enabled by the Osprey.
According to one report: “A potential employment concept would be to have a 5,10 or 50-100 pound “kamikaze” UAV stored in the cargo space areas of the MV-22” which can be used by the Fire Support Team as needed.
What clearly emerged from the initial two experiments was that a CLT empowered by the right kind of communications gear and able to work closely with aviation elements could operate effectively at a significant distance., while also providing a unique capability for combatant commanders.
But technology must continue to bend to the operational needs emergent from the concept of operation changes.
December 2013: Exercise Talon Reach whereby the CLT conducted a NEO into a semi-permissive environment between 29 Palms and Ft Hood, TX.
In this experiment between 29 Palms and Fort Hood Texas the Marines pushed the envelope further.
The purpose of the experiment was the following:
To validate that the Marine Corps can execute a 1000+ mile crisis response mission in a single period of darkness;
To further develop TTP to support MV-22 operations into the urban littoral (including fast rope insertion);
To figure out how to increase MAGTF C3I capabilities, to include long-range, air-ground digital first and inter-flight communication between the assault force and all supporting air assets to best support the ability to gain and maintain access in the objective area.
One finding from the experiment, also known as TALON REACH I, that reinforced a similar finding from the Camp Blanding experiment was that “the GCE currently has Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) and Joint Fires Observer (JFO) manning and equipping shortfalls that are needed to maximize our air combat element’s ever increasing capabilities on a distributed battlefield.”
According to Lt. Col. Bill Hendricks, a Cobra driver, and currently assigned to USMC Aviation Headquarters as the air-ground weapons requirements officer, the exercise:
Provided an opportunity to look at how mission planning can change significantly with the new configuration of insertion forces and how that approach can, in turn, significantly shorten the time from launch to operating in the objective area.
Rather than several hours on the ground planning the mission and then launching the force mission, now the time associated with the Rapid Response Planning Process can be significantly reduced. A new process is being developed.
The insertion force takes off and then does the planning en route (given the range and time in transit) and provides real time information to the GCE and ACE commanders aboard the Osprey prior to going into the objective area.
March 2014: Exercise TALON REACH II whereby a CLT from the training base in Twenty-nine Palms assaulted into an A2/AD environment against enemy positions located on San Clemente Island.
The latest experiment, TALON II, was built around a raid from 29 Palms to San Clemente Island.
According to the tasking:
Among the experiment’s primary objectives were the following:
To assess integrated airborne C5I between a CLT located across multiple aviation platforms;
To assess integrated ground-air C5I between a CLT post-insert and multiple supporting aviation platforms;
To assess the utilization of CLT fires approval processes and control in all phases.
At the heart of the exercise was to secure an airfield to support the concept of distributed STOVL operations as well.
This airfield was 23 kilometers from the enemy’s ASCM sites and required the CLT to conduct an all-night, dismounted movement to contact operation to secure it. In the experiment, the F-35 surrogate, the Cat Bird” was used to provide DAS and other data to the CLT in flight and post-insertion.
And the F-35 working with an Osprey-enabled insertion force could well re-define the meaning of Close Air Support (CAS). The F-35 could enter the objective area prior to the arrival of the CLT, push data back to the incoming force, and then provide fire support, “kinetic” and “non-kinetic,” C2 and ISR support during the insertion and operation.
The tragic May 9th crash of an A400M (MSN 23), near the Airbus final assembly plant near Seville, Spain, reminds us of how risky the introduction of new systems can be.
Due to be delivered to the Turkish Air Force in June, the plane crashed during a test flight, killing four flight test crew members.
When I grew up in the 1950s, ongoing design and evolution of new aircraft unfortunately saw many injuries and fatalities during the development and test processes that remain an integral part of any aerospace innovation effort.
Injuries and fatalities have rocked many unique aviation technologies over the years. Fortunately, new techniques and technologies have dramatically reduced the numbers of accidents and casualties in the test process – but have not completely eliminated the risk inherent to introducing new systems.
Innovation in the aviation sector sometimes comes with deadly cost.
Can we suppress mankind’s primal drive to invent and improve?
No, but we can investigate, make changes, and ultimately move forward, always with safety as a priority.
We crave the new capabilities that innovation delivers, and always have.
In the case of the A400M, the innovation it is delivering is clearly significant to the Air Forces that are already operating the plane.
In April 2015, I had a chance to visit the first operational base of the A400M, which is operated by the French Air Force near the city of Orleans, France, at the Bricy Air Base.
I spoke at length with Lieutenant-Colonel Benoît Paillard, Commander of Transport Squadron 1/61, Touraine, and I also toured the training facility…..
There are six A400Ms at the base, with a seventh coming this Fall. The base currently operates both C-130Hs and A400Ms, but eventually will only operate A400Ms and will probably be the largest base of A400Ms in the world by the time the French Air Force (FAF) receives its full compliment of aircraft.
Although the plane has been in operation only for a short period of time, and is undergoing further development, it has already had an important impact.
It directly connects France to operations in Africa and the Middle East without the need for refueling during the mission. It is flying two missions a month to Africa and two to the Middle East.
“One of the key advantages of the A400M will be that we can fly helicopters directly from France to the troops, which we can not do right now.
We cannot ship the helos directly back to France, currently, with our own assets. With the A400M we will be able to do so,” notes LCol Paillard.
During my visit to 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade on March 17, 2015, I had a chance to interview Major General Richard L. Simcock II, Commanding General, 2d MEB, and Major Marcus Mainz, lead 2d MEB planner for Exercise Bold Alligator 2014, where we had a lengthy discussion regarding the Marine Corps’ innovative approach in addressing Combatant Commanders’ requirements.
I was able to talk as well with Major Andrew O’Derell, the MEB Air Officer.
In this role, he functions as the glue between the CG and the Air Combat Element, to right size the force against the missions set by the CG.
“My job is to make sure the intent of the CG is met. If a MAGTF for aviation assets to accomplish their mission, they’ll propose recommended sourcing solutions from the other MAGTF air assets.
We are kind of the vetting function, if you will. We make sure that their sourcing solution isn’t jeopardizing another MAGTFs missions that the MEB commander has assigned them, and will prioritize.”
And given the special focus of 2nd MEB on shaping innovative C2 solutions, the Air Officer is involved in the mix and match approach of ensuring that ACE elements match up to the other combat elements to meet the Commander’s intent.
This obviously can get complicated as air assets operate off of ships or land, and mixing and matching can challenge the limits of C2.
For example, during Bold Alligator 2014, “the Kearsarge was the lead C2 element for aviation.
We can only positive control as far as the radars would allow, and when we get closer to shore, those radars are degrading.”
We discussed the impact of the Osprey upon how the Marines can operate and the challenges which the shift to the Osprey has brought as well.
Major O’Derell noted that he was involved in the 2003 insertion from Souda Bay in Crete into Northern Iraq (“1000 Marines over 1000 miles”) but this required airlift to 5,000 foot airstrips.
“Now with the Osprey we can do the same thing but the MEU does not have to offload at airstrips and we can do it with a vertical insertion and extraction method.”
An MV-22B Osprey, with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 163, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, maneuvers into position to receive fuel en route to Hawaii, July 30th, 2014. Four Ospreys launched from the USS Makin Island and traveled more than 800 nautical miles to insert an element of Marines into a simulated Embassy compound. USMC, 7/30/14.
The limit is kit and fuel, which can accompany the inserition force, but reinforcements of both would come via other means, such as the CH-53C or the KC-130J on airstrips.
The Osprey has also put high demand on the refueling fleet as well.
Prior to the coming of the Osprey, the Harriers and F-18s were the main demand element for aerial refueling, along with CH-53s and Prowlers.
“We’ve got this huge demand for Osprey aerial refueling and we don’t have enough tankers to give them gas for all the stuff they want to do. We’re hopefully kind of cracking the code. We’ve got interim clearance to give gas on the KC-10s, so now the Ospreys can take gas on the KC-10s.”
He highlighted that in the Judicious Response exercise, “I requested KC-10s early in the exercise planning.
Now we’ve got KC-10s that can potentially dual role as getting fuel to our attack platforms and to our Osprey platforms.
I don’t know that that’s been done recently or if it’s been done before, even in simulation exercises but.
We’re trying that out to see how it works and see what the bugs are.”
Clearly, the new Airbus tankers can also come to play the role as it is doing with many allied aircraft in Iraq and Syria and with the Aussies and Singapore are buying upwards of 13 Airbus tankers (the Aussies already have five), they can play a role tanking Ospreys as well.
One of the challenges will be to align the altitude at which the Ospreys need to refuel with the operational envelope of the KC-10 and KC-30As.
Six aircraft arrived for the opening of OT-1 (first phase of operational testing) on May 18, 2015 aboard the USS Wasp.
The six aircraft are from Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501, Marine Aircraft Group 31, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, Beaufort, South Carolina, and Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121, Marine Aircraft Group 13, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, based in Yuma, Arizona.
All six were flown by operational F-35 pilots; not test pilots.
USS Wasp (LHD-1) At Sea- Six Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II aircraft initiated the first phase of shipboard operational testing (OT-1) when they landed aboard the USS Wasp at sea on the afternoon of May 18.
OT-1 will evaluate and assess the integration of the F-35B into Marine Corps aviation while operating across different flight, maintenance and logistical operations that are seen in the Marine Corps’ operating forces.
The information gathered from OT-1 will lay the groundwork for F-35B deployments aboard U.S. Navy amphibious ships and help the Corps’ determine its initial operating capability of the aircraft.
“It’s an interim half-step between fully deployed operations and development tests,” said Maj. Richard Rusnok, the Marine Operational and Test Evaluation Squadron 22 F-35B Detachment officer in charge, and one of the primary pilots for the exercise.
OT-1 is the connecting block between the testing team, engineers and fleet operations, according to Rusnok. The equipment, personnel and support will all represent what will be used in the fleet field of operations for this aircraft, he added.
The six aircraft are from Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501, Marine Aircraft Group 31, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, Beaufort, South Carolina, and Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121, Marine Aircraft Group 13, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, based in Yuma, Arizona.
“The F-35B is scheduled to replace the aircraft that the Marine Corps is currently using, which would be AV-8B Harrier, the F/A-18 Hornet, as well as the EA-6B Prowler,” said Col. Robert Rauenhorst, the commanding officer of Marine Test and Evaluation Squadron 22. “We’re looking at the manpower and logistical efficiencies in performing aircraft maintenance and aircraft sustainability over one type/model/series, versus three separate types of legacy aircraft.”
“With the six F-35Bs onboard, the Wasp is ready to support this first phase of operational testing with everything she’s got,” said U.S. Navy Capt. Kurt Kastner, the commanding officer of the USS Wasp (LHD-1). “It’s not every day you have the Lightning II land on your deck, so we have taken great care so that everything goes smoothly.”
After arriving, the aircraft displayed short take off, vertical landing capabilities. This was the first of many flight operations scheduled take place during OT-1.
“The performance of the Marines out here has been exceptional; they’re eager to learn and excited to transition from their legacy aircraft and come over to the F-35B,” said Rauenhorst.
Many modifications had to be made to the Wasp in order for it to accommodate the F-35B, including the installation of the Autonomic Logistics Information System known as ALIS.
“The Wasp is the only ship in the fleet that has all of the integrated F-35B modifications,” said Rusnok. “One of the most important things is they’ve installed ALIS on the ship.”
Rusnok explained that ALIS is the aircraft’s informational and technological backbone. Maintaining the aircraft is done through this program.
In addition to the technical aspects, Rusnok also said there are many new physical attributes to the ship, such as a special coating on the flight deck and flight deck equipment, and a lithium ion battery storage capability aboard ship. The U.S. Navy-Marine Corps team is working closely with Naval Sea Systems Command to assess specific modifications made to USS WASP to support future deployments.
The Marine Corps’ other objectives during the next two weeks of testing include demonstrating and assessing day and night flight operations in varying aircraft configurations, as well as day and night weapons loading. Additionally, teams will assess digital interoperability of aircraft and ship systems, F-35B landing signal officer’s launch and recovery software, and all aspects of maintenance, logistics, and sustainment support of the F-35B while deployed at sea.
Editor’s Note: For a look at the approach towards operational testing of the F-35 at Nellis see the interview with the CO of the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron:
Murielle Delaporte and I had the chance to visit 2nd Marine Air Wing and MCAS Beaufort this week.
I am going next week aboard the USS Wasp to watch some aspects of the sea trials of the Marines preparing for IOC of the aircraft
The visit to MCAS Beaufort highlighted the role of the F-35B training squadron, not just in flying the aircraft, but working through tactics with 4th generation aircraft as well.
As the CO of MAG-31, Col. Lieblein put it: “We have six F-18 squadrons and one F-35 training squadron at Beaufort.
One of our major tasks is developing integration between 4th and 5th generation aircraft.
Our F-35 training squadron participates on almost a daily local basis on such efforts and works on a greater scale as well.”
An example of the greater scale was Exercise Sentry Savannah 15-1 where the USMC F-35Bs participated in the Georgia Air National Guard’s Air Dominance center efforts to work integration.
The Air Dominance Center is also an ideal location for large-scale Fighter Integration training because it can include participants from other aviation units stationed along the East Coast.
“Within about one hundred miles of Savannah there’s about 15 other fighter squadrons that fly indigenously … so when one fighter unit comes in here they can coordinate and do dissimilar air combat training with all of those units that fly around here on a daily basis,” said Maj. Merrick Baroni, ADC director of operations.
Sentry Savannah 15-1 consists of Air National Guard F-16 flying squadrons from Minnesota, South Carolina and the District of Columbia, an F-15 unit from the Florida Air National Guard, T-38 and F-22 aircraft from Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, and Marine F/A-18 and F-35s from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina.
Our interviews will highlight the engagement of the squadron both with the F-18s on base as well as with USAF aircraft in working tactics for 4th/5th generation integration.
The interviews with the CO of the Warlords, Lt. Col. OD Bachmann and Major Brian Bann highlighted the significant progress of the squadron and the maturing of the aircraft.
When I last interviewed OD Bachmann, he had just flown the 200th sortie of the aircraft.
Fast forward to 2015, and the F-35B has more than 10,000 flight hours and the aircraft at Beaufort are among the 140 flying today.
When asked what are the differences between our last meeting and now, the CO of the Warlords had much to say and that will be discussed in the full interview.
But for now, the key thing to highlight is simply that the Marines in the past 2 and 1/2 years have gone from basic flying of the aircraft to training a “much more capable pilot.
We operate a variety of tactical missions including CAS, armed reconnaissance support, tactical intercepts and we operate multiple airplanes operating together via data links.”
Although the air trials aboard the USS WASP are clearly part of the IOC process, in reality what is converging on the WASP are multiple dynamics.
Yuma is present with all the convergent work of the MAWTS-1, VMX-22 and Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 upon F-35B IOC and integration with the MAGTF.
And this squadron is working the F-22 and F-35 integration with the MAGTF as well as working with the USAF and the USN.
Beaufort is clearly there in many ways, including providing a maintenance detachment for the aircraft.
And the Brits are there too as the Wasp is mission rehearsal for the HMS Queen Elizabeth and its coming F-35B squadrons.
At Beaufort, we had a chance to interview Squadron Leader Hugh Nichols a well about the UK involvement at Beaufort and at Edwards which are crucial elements of their preparing for their carrier operations as well.
The Italians will come to Beaufort to train as well as other F-35B partners, of which there could be several in the next few years.
The interviews will be forthcoming from the visit, but some of the photos taken during the visit can be seen here:
77671fade1.05.0
The first photo shows a Beaufort F-35B with USS Wasp markings.
The “Marine” shown in the third photo is actually Sqn LDR Hugh Nichols, standing in front of the UK F-35B at Beaufort.
He flies USMC airplanes as well as the UK one and vice versa.
The next to last photo shows Nichols with Major Brian Bann and Murielle Delaporte
The final photo shows Lt. Col. Bachmann with Major Bann and Murielle Delaporte.
In the famous opening lines of Charles Dickens Tale of Two Cities, he noted that “it was the best of times; its was the worst of times.”
So it is for aircraft carriers. The critics of aircraft carriers focus on their vulnerability and the rise of capabilities such as the DF-21 Chinese “carrier killer” missiles; yet new carriers are emerging tailored for 21st century operations.
It is clear that the USN, the USMC, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy are all pursuing new carrier programs designed to thrive, not just survive in 21st century operations.
I have had the rare opportunity to be aboard all three of the new carriers: the 52,000 ton USS America, which is the amphibious assault ship ever built; the 100,000 ton CVN-78 (or the USS Gerald Ford to non US Navy folks) and the 65,000 ton HMS Queen Elizabeth.
The ships have several twenty-first century technologies in common.
Notably, the construction of vastly improved command and control (C2) capabilities, and capabilities to work with networked forces in a distributed operational environment is a key one.
The ships will have a 40 plus service life (although combat has its own logic), and will host significant transformation with regard to the combat assets carried aboard.
But each ship is built around significant airpower modernizations.
The USS America will host the Ospreys (including refueling Ospreys), F-35Bs, and the CH-53K (which can carry externally three times the load of the CH-53E); CVN-78 will see the new Hawkeye, the F-35C, and UCAS aboard her; and the HMS Queen Elizabeth is built around the F-35B as well as new airborne command capabilities.
And the Ford and the Queen Elizabeth have advanced electric power generation capabilities to take on board directed energy weapons as those capabilities evolve. Both ships have significant communications capabilities (with miles of fiber optic cable built in) and reconfigurable C2 workstations to allow for operations against the ROMO or Range of Military Operations.
For Carriers are very good at providing capabilities across the spectrum of operations, and the presence required for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief is a critical part of building the engagements crucial for enhanced deterrence as well.
The three carriers all provide basing flexibility and the capability to operate with both sea control as well land attack functionalities.
And the logistical integrity of the carriers is crucial as well, which allows for operate from the sea without having to set up land bases for which to operate.
And as ISIS demonstrated, capturing equipment left behind, can fuel capabilities of the very adversaries which you want to defeat; something which sea basing can minimize.
And the carriers are born in the context of the connectivity revolution whereby distributed operations and enhanced capability to operate as an integrated force allows the carriers to leverage the strike capabilities of subsurface, and surface assets as well as land-based air as well.
Of course, each ship is different and will contribute differently to US and allied forces operating in the battlespace. And working to more effectively integrate those three carriers is a work in progress but given the close working relationships of the USMC, the USN, the RAF and the RN, innovations demonstrated in one class of ship will become part of the operational environment for all of them.
The USS America: Reinventing Amphibious Assault
The USS America is the largest amphibious ship ever built by the United States.
The ship has been built at the Huntington Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi and departed mid-July 2014 for its trip to its initial home part at San Diego, California and then was commissioned in San Francisco in mid-October 2014. It is now undergoing its final trials and preparing to enter the fleet.
The USMC is the only tiltrotar-enabled assault force in the world.
(Japan is now buying 17 Ospreys and will work with the USN/USMC team to integrate Ospreys into the Japanese Self Defense Force).
The USS America has been built to facilitate this capability and will be augmented as the F-35B is added to the Ospreys, and helicopters already operating from the ship and as unmanned vehicles become a regular operational element as well.
The Osprey has obviously been a game changer, where today, the basic three ship formation used by the Amphibious Ready Group-Marine Expeditionary Unit can “disaggregate” and operate over a three-ship distributed 1,000-mile operational area. Having the communications and ISR to operate over a greater area, and to have sustainment for a disaggregated fleet is a major challenge facing the future of the USN-USMC team.
A major change in the ship can be seen below the flight deck, and these changes are what allow the assault force enabled by new USMC aviation capabilities to operate at greater range and ops tempo. The ship has three synergistic decks, which work together to support flight deck operations. Unlike a traditional large deck amphibious ship where maintenance has to be done topside, maintenance is done in a hangar deck below the flight deck. And below that deck is the intermediate area, where large workspaces exist to support operations with weapons, logistics and sustainment activities.
With the coming of the F-35B to the USS America, the tiltrotar-enabled force adds significant capability. This can work a couple of different ways.
The ship can hold more than 20 F-35Bs, but more likely when F-35Bs are being featured would have a 16 F-35B flying with 4 Osprey combinations. The Ospreys would be used to carry fuel and or weapons, so that the F-35B can move to the mission and operate in a distributed base. This is what the Marines refer to as shaping distributed STOVL ops for the F-35B within which a sea base is a key lily pad from which the plane could operate or could move from.
Alternatively, the F-35B could operate as the ISR, C2 and strike asset to work with the rest of the assault force. The beauty of the F-35B for the Marines is that it allows them to operate off of an amphibious ship with a plane which can do C2 or provide forward leaning ISR.
In other words, the F-35 working with an Osprey-enabled insertion force operating off of the USS American could well re-define the meaning of Close Air Support (CAS).
The F-35 could enter the objective area prior to the arrival of the combat landing team or CLT, push data back to the incoming force, and then provide fire support, “kinetic” and “non-kinetic,” C2 and ISR support during the insertion and operation.
The other new aviation, which will fly off of the USS America, is the CH-53K, which is the replacement for the CH-53E. Although less sexy than an Osprey or a JSF, the K is a backbone element for an airborne amphibious strike force. The CH-53K will be able to carry three times the load external to itself than can a CH-53E and has many operational improvements, such as a fly by wire system.
In short, when one looks at the outside of the USS America and sees a flight deck roughly the size of its predecessors, one would totally miss the point of how this ship fits into USN-USMC innovation.
Looking under the decks, understanding how a radical change in the workflow, enabling and operating with 21st century USMC strike and insertion assets, is how to understand the ship and its impact.
It is an enabler of 21st century amphibious assault operations and not simply an upgrade on the past.
The Coming of CVN-78: Redefining the Large-Deck Carrier
The coming of the USS Gerald R. Ford sets in motion a very different type of large-deck carrier. The hull form of the Ford is a tribute to the very successful Nimitz-class hull design. That is where the comparisons basically end.
In effect, the new carrier is built to provide an infrastructure for 21st century warfighting, not just for the U.S. Navy, but for the joint and coalition force as well.
The ship is designed to operate more effectively with an evolving airwing, which will change over the 50+ year life of the carrier.
It has as well significantly greater C2 capabilities so that the carrier can play an expanded role in evolving 21st century U.S. and alliance distributed operations which will be central to U.S. warfighting capabilities going forward. The significant increase in electric power generation, three times greater than Nimitz, is designed to allow the electronic systems associated with defense, attack and C2 to grow over time.
A number of the changes associated with the ship are quite visible: the new launching and recovery systems, the weapons handling system and many other improvements. But central to rethinking the role of the carrier is the revolution in C2 underway. The super computers onboard the ship, with the power to support them as well as having significant power available for system cooling along with the deployment of future laser weapons is a crucial baseline for building out of C2 capabilities.
The next generation in active sensor technology in the dual band radars provides a solid foundation, not simply for the organic defense and strikes capability of the carrier, but for the battle fleet as a whole. Significant increase in bandwidth is a fundamental requirement for an expanded C2 capability at sea which can support land, sea and air operations. And the unique rapidly reconfigurable command suites on board allow for C2 to be provided for joint or coalition partners in a manner appropriate to the mission set.
73635random1.05.0
In an interview with Captain John Meier, the skipper of CVN-78, on January 9, 2015 highlighted a number of innovations, two of which are the new launch system and the second is the new weaponization systems and pit stop approach to operating aircraft.
The first involves the shift from steam catapults to an electronic system or EMALS. “The EMALs system we will visit on board the ship and will allow us to provide for an ability to launch aircraft more smoothly and with less wear and tear on the airplanes and the pilots. Coupled with the new advanced arresting gear, we will be able to launch and recover a variety of types of aircraft, including future designs that haven’t been developed.”
The second is the change in weaponization, including anticipating fielded directory energy weapons, put particularly a new weapons loading capability. “You have a great capacity for diversity of weapons, and the advanced weapon elevators themselves are located on the ship to facilitate faster movement and loading of the weapons. That’s the underlying principle of the advanced weapon elevators. The elevators carry more weight and they go faster, twice the speed and twice the weight essentially of the legacy weapons elevators.
They’re located in the flight deck, which puts them positionally where the crew will spend a lot less time from an ergonomics perspective pushing the ordnance around. The ordnance comes up right near the aircraft and facilitates more efficient weapons loading.”
With the weapons coming directly to the flight deck, combat jets will be loaded in “pit stops” aboard the deck and then launched from the EMALs system, allowing for better capability to arm and launch combat aircraft more rapidly.
And with the coming of the F-35 C, the head of Naval Air Warfare, Rear Admiral Manazir noted in an interview done after the visit to the Ford:
“Reach not range is a key aspect of looking at the carrier airwing and its ability to work with joint and coalition forces.
This is clearly enhanced with the F-35. The carrier has a core ability to operate organically but its real impact comes from its synergy with the joint and coalition force, which will only go up as the global F-35 fleet emerges. And this will get better with the coming of the USS Ford. What the Ford does is it optimizes the things that we think are the most important.”
HMS Queen Elizabeth: Reinventing the Large Deck Carrier
The Brits invented carrier warfare; and in many ways with their new 65,000 ton carrier they are reinventing the large deck carrier and providing something of a hybrid between the USS America and CVN-78. The flight deck is impressive and is about 90% of the size of the Nimitz class and has a very wide deck upon which operations can be generated.
When I stood at the end of the ski jump and looked down at the flight deck, its width was significant. And I learned that the flight deck was built by Laird Shipbuilding (unfortunately no relation!).
This ship is designed to operate F-35Bs, which means that the RAF and the RN will drive every bit of innovation out of the aircraft to provide C2, ISR and strike capabilities. And given the F-35B enabled USS America, it is no surprise to learn that their working relationship with the USN-USMC team is close. And the Brits will train with the Marines along with other international partners that will fly the F-35B at Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station in North Carolina.
Walking the ship takes time, but several innovations one sees aboard the Ford can be found aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth: significant energy generation, significant C2 capabilities, very large rooms for reconfigurable C2 suites for operations across the ROMO, as well as well designed work areas for the F-35B crews which will handle the operations and data generated by the F-35 to the fleet.
It is a ship designed to transform both the RAF and the RN for it will integrate significantly with the surface and subsurface fleet and the land-based air for the RAF.
To take an example, with RAF jets operating from Cyprus or in the Middle East, the HMS Queen Elizabeth can mesh its air assets with the land based assets and the command center directing the air operations could be on the ship, on land at an operating base, or in the air, even in the new tankers.
It is a ship designed to be part of the transformation not just of the Royal Navy but for the Royal Air Force as well as the Typhoons take over Tornado missions and the F-35 comes into the force concurrently. And it is a transformation where joint integration of land and sea based forces will be featured.
The HMS Queen Elizabeth in common with CVN-78 has a new way to load weapons and to configure the weapons loads to enhance the safety and speed of the weaponization process.
The weapons are brought to either end of the deck to be loaded onto the combat aircraft; and the mechanism for loading and moving the weapons can provide for a mix and match capacity to push the proper loads to the particular aircraft for the missions of the day. In fact, the system aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth can prepare those loads the night before the early morning missions.
Another aspect in common between these two carriers is innovations in the islands controlling the ship compared to the Nimitz class. For the Ford class, this means moving the island back on the flight deck and opening up more flight space and providing for a cleaner flight deck, a change which when working with the new launch system will provide the flight operations to work more effectively aboard the flight deck.
For HMS Queen Elizabeth, there are two islands onboard the ship.
This is due to the fact that it is not a nuclear carrier and the exhausts for the engines exit on two parts of the flight deck; and there is an island incorporating those exit points. One island is used to operate the ship; and the second runs flight deck operations.
And in a crisis, either island can perform both tasks, but visiting the two islands it is clear that the designers have focused on ways to enhance the work flow for the two different tasks, namely running the ship and operating the aircraft aboard the flight deck.
Conclusion
Despite the critics, new carriers are being built.
They are designed to work more effectively in an integrated operational space and can provide both defense and offense to the joint and coalition force.
They are key elements of the distributed force, one which is forging a 21st century approach to offense-defense enterprise and able to operate across the spectrum of military operations.
We can only see the glimmer of the future, but the paths to the future are clear and one pathway is through the reinvention of the large deck carrier.
The author would like to thank Ed Timperlake for his assistance, insights and contributions in the work underlying this piece.
The Slideshows:
The first slideshow:
The USS America is optimized for aviation operations.
The three-deck set up provides a significant upgrade in the ability to support an aviation supported assault force.
Indeed, the USMC as the only tiltrotar-enabled assault force in the world, now has a ship well designed both to operate and maintain the core asset to insert and support the Ground Combat Element at significant distances of operations.
Credit: USS America:Summer 2014
In the first photo, a U.S. Navy aviation boatswain’s mate (handling) directs an MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft carrying Marines assigned to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force South to land on the flight deck of the newly commissioned amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) in the Caribbean Sea following bilateral training with Colombian service members July 19, 2014.
In the second, third and fourth photos, U.S. Marines assigned to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force South return to the newly commissioned amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) in the Caribbean Sea following bilateral training with Colombian service members July 19, 2014. The America embarked on a mission to conduct training engagements with partner nations throughout the Americas before reporting to its new homeport of San Diego. The America was set to be ceremoniously commissioned Oct. 11, 2014.
In the fifth photo, a tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey, assigned to the “Argonauts” of Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron (VMX) 22, takes off from the flight deck of future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) during flight operations.
In the sixth photo, an Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handler) directs a pilot to an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter, assigned to the “Blackjacks” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21, in preparation for flight operations aboard the future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6).
In the seventh photo, an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter, assigned to the “Blackjacks” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21, takes off from the flight deck of future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) during flight operations.
In the eighth photo, an Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handler) directs a tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey, assigned to the “Argonauts” of Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron (VMX) 22, to take off from the flight deck of future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) during flight operations.
In the 9th and 10th photos, Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 1st Class Kenny Vida, flight deck leading petty officer aboard future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), observes an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter as it takes off.
In the 11th photo, Sailors assigned to future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) chock and chain an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter after it lands during flight quarters.
In the 12th photo, Aviation Electronics Technician 3rd Class Trevor Vindelov, assigned to the “Blackjacks” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 21, performs a corrosion inspection on a MH-60S Seahawk helicopter in the hangar bay of future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6).
In the 13th photo, Aviation Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Jeff Acevedo, left, assigned to Air Department’s V-3 division, directs his tractor driver, Airman Robert Johnson, while moving MV-22 Osprey in the hangar bay aboard future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6).
In the 14th photo, Aviation Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Jeff Acevedo, left, directs Aviation Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Jeff Acevedo, both assigned to Air Department’s V-3 division, while moving an MV-22 Osprey in the hangar bay aboard future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6).
In the 15th photo, Sailors assigned to the “Blackjacks” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 21, embarked aboard future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), perform preventive maintenance on aircraft tie-down chains in the ship’s hangar bay.
In the final photo, Aviation Structural Mechanic 2nd Class Reginald Gilmore, assigned to the “Blackjacks” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 21, embarked aboard future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), performs routine maintenance on an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter in the ship’s hangar bay.
The second slideshow:
The photos in the slideshow were shot during the visit to CVN-78 on January 9, 2015 and are credited to Second Line of Defense.
The second photo shows Captain Meier in his stateroom aboard the ship. The third photo shows the captain and Construction superintendent Hicks near an EMALs catapult, and was shot after Hicks had explained to us in detail the nature of the EMALS and arrested landing gear system and its projected impact on operations.
The fourth and fifth photos are external shots of the USS Ford prior to boarding the ship.
The sixth shot is a view from the bridge of the significantly expanded launch area aboard the deck. Moving the island as well as removing one aviation elevator from the deck have facilitated the expanded flight deck.
Photos 7-9, provide views of the island including the new radar locations.
The tenth photo shows the flight deck.
The 11th photo shows a station for providing jet fuel.
The 12th through 15th photo shows a finished area of the ship, namely the galley. Even though there will be 600 less sailors aboard the ship, the galley will serve a large crew.
The final two shots are of the hanger aboard the ship.
The third slideshow:
At the end of March 2015, Second Line of Defense visited HMS Queen Elizabeth in Scotland.
These photos were shot during the visit by the RN/RAF team and are credited to them.
The first photo shows the ski jump on the flight deck for the F-35B. The second photo is of the ski jump and a shot of the Hood Dock from which HMS Hood left to go after Bismarck and to which HMS Prince of Wales returned after the Bismarck was sunk.
The third photo is shot from the ski jump and looks down at the entire flight deck.
The fourth photo shows Robbin Laird with one of the HMS Queen Elizabeth team at the end of the flight deck.
The fifth photo shows several members of the team who provided the tour of the ship.
The sixth, seventh and eighth photos show the islands aboard the flight deck.
The ninth photo provides another shot of the flight deck; the tenth photo is a shot of the reconfigurable C2 spaces aboard the ship;; the eleventh photo shows the massive crane used in the course of construction.
And the final photo shows those who provided the tour for whom more than thanks are due for providing insights into a key element of evolving air and sea power.
NATO provides the Baltic Air Patrol to provide for air protection for them.
According to one of the first articles on the UK MoD website after the Purdah publishing ban during the time of the election, RAF typhoons from 6 squadron intercepted Russian jets operating near Estonia.
The jets, which deployed to the region on 1 May, identified and escorted a Russian reconnaissance aircraft which was flying in international airspace earlier today. The aircraft was monitored and later departed the area.
The interception comes as 175 UK personnel and two other RAF jets have joined Estonia’s largest military exercise, as part of NATO assurances to Baltic states.
A flight over Tallinn City, Estonia, by two Royal Air Force Typhoons from 6 Squadron on NATO’s Baltic Air Poilicing Patrol. Credit: UK MoD
During Exercise Steadfast Javelin (Siil in Estonian) this week, 13,000 troops and reserves are defending positions against a simulated attack by land and air.
The national exercise has been linked to NATO, and includes participants from the US, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Holland and Latvia.
The UK is the second largest contributing nation, with 120 soldiers from 2nd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, taking part.
A further 55 RAF personnel are supporting two Hawk jets, which are providing air support alongside US A-10 “tank buster” aircraft. British soldiers are playing the part of attacking forces, partnered with a similar sized US Army unit and working as part of an Estonian infantry brigade.
The participation of UK personnel in Exercise Siil will help to develop the Estonian military’s capabilities in deploying, supporting, and fighting with a large infantry force, as well as further improving the interoperability of British and NATO units.
Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Fallon said:
Air interceptions like this underline the vital importance of the UK’s contribution to the Baltic Air Policing mission. The UK’s role in the protection of NATO airspace and the involvement of our personnel in the Estonian exercise currently taking place demonstrate our commitment to NATO’s collective defence and the value of our Armed Forces’ expertise in improving the military capabilities of our allies.
The Typhoons are operating alongside Norwegian aircraft between May and August 2015, working to secure NATO’s airspace over the Baltic nations of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania which do not have their own air defence fighters.
