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Vladimir Putin has returned Russia to the world stage in rather dramatic fashion.
The seizure of Crimea from Ukraine is the most obvious statement of Russian power, yet this seizure could obscure the broader strategy and focus of attention.
Putin is really an energy czar, running a country.
The Russian economy and its global significance rest heavily on its energy resources and playing an effective global energy security game.
This means that in addition to the already extensive internal resources, those in the Arctic are crucial to the long-term effort, and engaging in the evolution of the Middle East as an energy ally/competitor is important as well.
The actions in Ukraine have included seizure of territory, the use of special forces, information war, the use of indigenous Russian armed and trained “separatists,” and other techniques well laid out in a thoughtful piece from a Latvian researcher.
In a seminal piece on the Ukrainian crisis by a Latvian researcher, new ground has been laid to shape a clearer understanding of the evolving nature of 21st century military power.
Neither asymmetric nor convention, the Russians are shaping what this researcher calls a strategic communications policy to support strategic objectives and to do so with a tool set of various means, including skill useful of military power as the underwriter of the entire effort.
According to Janis Berzinš, the Russians have unleashed a new generation of warfare in Ukraine. The entire piece needs to be read carefully and its entirety, but the core analytical points about the Russian approach and the shaping a new variant of military operations for the 21st century can be seen from the excerpts taken from the piece below:
The Crimean campaign has been an impressive demonstration of strategic communication, one which shares many similarities with their intervention in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008, while at the same time being essentially different, since it reflects the operational realization of the new military guidelines to be implemented by 2020.
Its success can be measured by the fact that in just three weeks, and without a shot being fired, the morale of the Ukrainian military was broken and all of their 190 bases had surrendered. Instead of relying on a mass deployment of tanks and artillery, the Crimean campaign deployed less than 10,000 assault troops – mostly naval infantry, already stationed in Crimea, backed by a few battalions of airborne troops and Spetsnaz commandos – against 16,000 Ukrainian military personnel.
In addition, the heaviest vehicle used was the wheeled BTR-80 armored personal carrier. After blocking Ukrainian troops in their bases, the Russians started the second operational phase, consisting of psychological warfare, intimidation, bribery, and internet/media propaganda to undermine resistance, thus avoiding the use of firepower.
The operation was also characterized by the great discipline of the Russian troops, the display of new personnel equipment, body armor, and light wheeled armored vehicles. The result was a clear military victory on the battlefield by the operationalization of a well-orchestrated campaign of strategic communication, using clear political, psychological, and information strategies and the fully operationalization of what Russian military thinkers call “New Generation Warfare”…..
Thus, the Russian view of modern warfare is based on the idea that the main battlespace is the mind and, as a result, new-generation wars are to be dominated by information and psychological warfare, in order to achieve superiority in troops and weapons control, morally and psychologically depressing the enemy’s armed forces personnel and civil population.
The main objective is to reduce the necessity for deploying hard military power to the minimum necessary, making the opponent’s military and civil population support the attacker to the detriment of their own government and country.
The key is effective intervention, but without over engagement.
Whether this happens depends up Ukraine and the West, but Putin’s approach is about leverage and effect. But the ability to act, indirectly, is a key element of the approach, notably with the inability of Western democracies and their alliances to deal with indirect action.
The West has alliances designed to protect directly threatened states and interests; Putin’s strategy focuses on the seams; the ability to generate indirect actions, leverage and directly act only when necessary.
The Russians really have no allies; but they do not need them to succeed.They have clients.
Client states and actors are key partners for the Russians in protecting their mutual interests, which are not laid out in alliance agreements, but moving arrangements to meet mutual needs.
The ability to build and deliver arms rapidly is certainly a key aspect of shaping the client strategy. It is a strategy of violence but not about Russian troops on the ground, or the operation of a global Russian air force; it is about delivery to the target of need.
With regard to the Mediterranean and the Middle East, the Russians are both building out an infrastructure to operate from in the region over the long run, and shaping an effective arms delivery approach fueling the current conflicts.
Earlier, I argued that an aspect of shaping an effective infrastructure for engagement involved shaping a network of naval bases or support facilities in the region.
It is often noted that the current state of the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean is not first rate, and is populated with many aging assets. This is largely true, but misses the point that the Russians have set in motion a major naval and air modernization effort, and by laying down a solid geographical infrastructure, when capabilities are added, then they have tools to go with the infrastructure to shape regular influence in the region.
With regard to the Eastern Mediterranean, two key areas are involved: Syria and Egypt.
With regard to the Western Mediterranean, Cyprus is the key target of the Russian effort.
And correlated with this effort is the ability to provide and deliver rapidly if needed arms to clients. Unlike the United States, which is incapable of delivering arms rapidly to the region (and Europe even more so), the Russians can deliver rapidly.
A recent example was the delivery of Sukhoi jets to Iraq.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has told the BBC that he hopes jets from Russia and Belarus will turn the tide against rebels in the coming days. “God willing within one week this force will be effective and will destroy the terrorists’ dens,” he said.
He said that the process of buying US jets had been “long-winded” and that the militants’ advance could have been avoided if air cover had been in place. Isis and its Sunni Muslim allies seized large parts of Iraq this month. Mr Maliki was speaking to the BBC’s Arabic service in his first interview for an international broadcaster since Isis – the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant – began its major offensive.
“I’ll be frank and say that we were deluded when we signed the contract [with the US],” Mr Maliki said. “We should have sought to buy other jet fighters like British, French and Russian to secure the air cover for our forces; if we had air cover we would have averted what had happened,” he went on.
He said Iraq was acquiring second-hand jet fighters from Russia and Belarus “that should arrive in Iraq in two or three days”.
This has been followed by a much larger arms transfer agreement.
Iraqi government has recently signed a USD 1 billion-worth deal with Russian government to provide Iraqi army with heavy artillery, ballistic missile systems and ammunition.
The Russian Interfax News Agency reported Wednesday that the deal was signed during a recent visit by Iraqi Defense Minister Saadoun Al-Dulaimi to Moscow.
It added that the deal also includes, among others things, providing Iraqi army with Grad missiles and armored vehicles.
Talks are also underway to sell Iraq ten Su-27 jet fighters, the report disclose.
And one could note that arming the Iranians, the Maliki government and the Syrians has a certain client engagement logic as well.
And in cases like arming Hamas there is clear an interest in testing weapons as well as aiding clients.
The Iron Dome is a threat to Russian offensive weapons, and it is in the Russian interest to seek ways to defeat it, either directly, indirectly, or by information warfare means.
Videos distributed by al-Qassam’s media arm appear to show the strength of the group’s arsenal.
“The demonstrated use of anti-tank guided missiles against small IDF units on foot, rather than against armoured vehicles, shows a clear intent to simply inflict casualties and a recognition of the (Israeli army’s) superior armour defence,” said Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Center in Doha told Reuters.
A senior Israeli intelligence official briefing foreign reporters on Wednesday said “radical axis” countries – Iran, Syria or Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon – had provided Hamas with a new generation of ground weapons.
He cited the Russian-made cornet and the shoulder-fired RPG-29 which is “more of a rocket than a missile. You can use it in an urban area when you have to fight against very close forces. This is something you don’t make by yourself.”
Hamas is a useful client, which can test the waters of an evolving 21st century conflict situation.
This is itself a key element of gaining advantage in 21st century global competition.
And of course, energy and arms make a very useful cross cutting capability.
When there was the Soviet Union, the CIA claimed that the Russians were providing arms gratis to allies in the Middle East. But as part of a Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates team in 1983, we were able to prove that the Russians were selling arms to allies and doing so through exchanges in the energy markets.
Clearly, such a possibility is in play once again, although this time Putin does not care so much for allies as for clients. He has little interest in defending clients against direct confrontation with the West, than he is in staying the game and out maneuvering Western states.
This is not the Cold War; this is the engagement of Russia in 21st century conflict and warfare.
Following the invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the US started on the path of the reconstruction of the country.
A key approach followed, notably in the surge and thereafter, a counter-insurgency or COIN doctrine to create “stability.”
And then with declared “success,” a policy of training of Iraqi troops followed to ensure stabilization.
It became widely accepted that the warfighting strategy followed by the US military in the Cold War would be replaced by a stabilization strategy.
Victory in military operations was no longer enough, but also the role of the military was to shape peace in a post-conflict setting.
Indeed, Secretary Gates made a career of highlighting the new military doctrine and the need for the military to shift from simply from war winning to winning the hearts and minds of the population of Iraq and then Afghanistan. The presumption was that a new template was being put in place for the US military and the US Army has built its field manuals around this presumption.
With the experience of Iraq, 2014, does this strategy make sense?
Notably, with the Afghan drawdown rapidly reaching a conclusion, what lessons learned need to be applied before the Afghan transition looks like the Iraq one?
One answer has been provided by an Obama Administration assessment of the state of play of the Iraqi forces and the implications of this assessment are profound for evaluating COIN as well.
A classified military assessment of Iraq’s security forces concludes that many units are so deeply infiltrated by either Sunni extremist informants or Shiite personnel backed by Iran that any Americans assigned to advise Baghdad’s forces could face risks to their safety, according to United States officials.
The report concludes that only about half of Iraq’s operational units are capable enough for American commandos to advise them if the White House decides to help roll back the advances made by Sunni militants in northern and western Iraq over the past month.
Adding to the administration’s dilemma is the assessment’s conclusion that Iraqi forces loyal to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki are now heavily dependent on Shiite militias — many of which were trained in Iran — as well as on advisers from Iran’s paramilitary Quds Force.
For defenders of COIN, it would have to be explained why time and continued effort would overcome what are clearly deeply rooted fissures within the political texture of Iraq: namely the Sunni-Shite cleavage, the role of Iran and the use of the military by Malki by merely his own political purposes?
In effect, Maliki has used his Shia-dominated military in ways similar to how Saddam Hussein used his Sunni-dominated military , namely to prop himself up in power and to shape domestic political outcomes to his benefit.
It is not about having an effective fighting force for domestic security or defense of the country.
And when the ISIS were able to aggregate forces, the absence of an air enabled ground force, demonstrated a fundamental fact often forgotten: it is not about airpower versus boots on the ground.
It is about an air dominance enabled ground force versus one that it is not.
The point of having a military force is its ability to fight and defend the country, not simply to manage domestic affairs to the benefit of the current despot.
And no amount of COIN training or understanding of the current fad of US Army, Human Terrain Mapping will overcome that problem.
Human Terrain Mapping has been embraced at the highest level of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command:
General Cone (then CG TRADOC) introduces words that make no sense but appear to well on the way to becoming an insider signal of profound wisdom– human terrain mapping.
“Is there a human domain” in warfare? Cone asked.
“But he said 12 years later, after tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, he’s the biggest advocate of what the Army has learned about human terrain.”
How did that work out withNuri Kamal al-Maliki?
The French demonstrated in Mali a fundamental point in fighting any enemy which is operating in an area you consider of strategic interest: when they aggregate force, one operates to destroy those aggregated forces.
Fighting set piece battles by an air enabled ground insertion force, with modernization of both air and ground assets and their integration, allows a Western power to deal with insurgents threatening our interests. It does not eliminate them but pulverizes them.
It is not about being loved; it is about being respected.
It is then up to the indigenous population to do the rest; and if it does not then the insurgents who threaten our interests again aggregate power we will return and pulverize them again.
A key element which the US has in 2014, which it did not have in 2003, is a tiltrotar enabled assault force.
For the talking heads who keep bifurcating the air from ground forces, the Marines have created a unique hybrid – the tiltortoor enabled assault force.
Working with other air elements — whether USMC, USN, USAF or allied — this force can be inserted to support humanitarian missions and to perform combat missions and then LEAVE.
It is not about leaving scattered training elements waiting to become hostages for the insurgents; it is about helping those whom you wish to help and being prepared to bring down fire upon those who attack you.
It is about having clear political objectives; using force to support those objectives and to recognize that modern forces like the French and the Americans have air enabled assault forces, not simply ground forces.
And for the US, the Marines have brought a whole new capability to the fight – rapid insertion forces.
And another key element in play in 2014 which we did not have in 2003, is the Russian partnering with the “poor man’s “ Saddam Hussein, Maliki.
Putin is backing Maliki as a partner; let us see if it works better for him than us.
For the US, it is time to embrace the Kurds use the heretofore unique military capability of airpower and the USMC tilt-rotor infantry force and to save innocent lives and pulverize the ISIS along the way.
They will not be completely eliminated; and they certainly will not be COINed.
For some additional looks at the state of Iraqi forces after being COINed:
2014-08-09 F/A-18 Super Hornets are launched and recovered aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) while underway in the Arabian Gulf.
Bush is operating in the Arabian Gulf on a scheduled deployment to U.S. 5th Fleet.
The president has authorized U.S. Central Command to conduct military operations in support of humanitarian aid deliveries and targeted airstrikes in Iraq to protect U.S. personnel and interests, in response to activities conducted by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists.
2014-08-04 Some years ago, the former head of the F-35 program and then director of the USAF Air Armaments Center at Eglin Air Force Base, General “CR” Davis highlighted the importance of new weaponry. In this case he focused on a legacy weapon, the AMRAAM.
Maj. Gen. Charles Davis, director of the USAF Air Armaments Center (AAC) at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., stated “it’s clear that we’ve rung about all we can out of the warhead and the seeker and the motor on the AMRAAM, so we’ve got to look at what’s the new generation of motors and warheads and seekers,” Davis said, “we’ve clearly got to get better range; we’ve got to get more powerful warheads.”[1]
Indeed visits to Eglin have reinforced the clear challenge of getting on with weapons modernization. Eglin has done wonders in ringing out capabilities from legacy weapons. But clearly it makes little sense to put “third and fourth” generation weapons on “fifth generation” aircraft, to quote the longest serving Chief Scientist of the USAF, Dr. Mark Lewis.
The F-35 understood not as a plane, but as a global enterprise provides significant ways to innovate in the global weapons enterprise.
For allies, shaping new weapons for the F-35 provides a significant global opportunity for exports, and evolving capabilities.
For the United States, it provides a significant opportunity to take advantage of allied investments and to focus its own investments in those areas which allied global markets are not likely to focus upon. The F-35 has been designed to deliver integrated combat power, not interoperable air systems.
It is also about plugging in a diversity of global experiences into a much more capable fleet of aircraft.
Each country will shape its integration of the F-35 with its national forces a bit differently and in so doing may well seek weapons, which fit its corerequirements. With a global approach, subsets of countries could buy similar weapons to deal with convergent con-ops requirements.
Synergy arising from 4th and 5th Generation Aircraft Integration
The F-35 as a global force provides a force functioning with airpower along the lines of what we have called the “renorming of airpower.” What this means is that the F-35 plays a pull function on the entire legacy airfleet, and as such the question becomes how to most effectively manage the transition from 4th to 5th generation aircraft and how can the 4th generation aircraft be most effectively utilized by a 5th generation enabled air combat force?
Part of that answer is being shaped today at MAWTS-1, the premier USMC tactics and training facility located at the Yuma MCAS. The current working relationship between the F-35 and the F-18s at Yuma is done by secure radio transmission but as the F-35 fleet becomes enabled with the new data transfer system known as MADL, the opportunity to find ways to link MADL to 4th generation aircraft, perhaps through variants of the BACN system, will emerge.
It should be noted that the MADL transition is already starting as test pilots at Lockheed Martin are flying 4-ship F-35 formations with MADL inside to shape a way ahead with the scope and range of what a fleet of 360 degree enabled aircraft can bring to the battlespace. MADL is part of what makes the F-35 an integrated not an interoperable combat fleet.
A squadron F-35B seen at Yuma on July 16, 2014. Credit Photo: Second Line of Defense
According to MAWTS officers, progress is already underway with regard to thinking about synergy between 4th and 5th generation aircraft.
In the Fall of 2013, 121 participated in three WTI events and in the last course during the Spring of 2014, 121 participated in six events. To date the F-35Bs in the WTI events have performed SCAR (strike coordination and reconnaissance), escort and area defense missions.
The current planes are operating with Block 2A software and the Block 2B software arrives later this year for the preparation for the IOC in 2015. What this means is that the plane operating today with MAWTS is more limited than what will come later in the year. While Block 2B is largely a software upgrade, there are some planned hardware mods as well.
The F-35 is operating with other Marine Corps air as the blue team against red aggressors in various exercises.
This means that already the Marines are working the question of 5th generation aircraft working with 4th generation to shape tactics and training for more effective air operations.
This has meant as well that the combat systems on the F-35 have already demonstrated an ability to enhance the impact of F-18s and Harriers on air combat operations.
As one of the MAWTS instructors put it:
We are able to employ the F-35 as a kind of information manger using its combat systems to be able to employ the air ordinance carried by the other airplanes which allows us to conserve our ordinance on the F-35 until we actually need to use it.
This has already led to interesting results when doing things like the defense of Yuma exercise where the F-18s were enabled to do things they can not normally do against incoming USAF aircraft as the Red Force.
In this WTI event – Anti-Air Warfare 2 – the F-35 participated with 4th generation fighters from MAWTS against a Red Force, which included F-15s and F-16s. Because of the F-35’s combat systems, the participating 4th generation fighters were significantly more effective. Right now, the F-35 can be used to generate sensor data, which enhances the capability of the 4th generation fleet, limited by the current need to pass that data via voice means; and the F-35s ability to operate more freely in the battlespace than can 4th generation aircraft.
The Air Combat Command is working hard on how to integrate 4th with 5th generation aircraft, and clearly one aspect of that is how to maximize the use of fleet strike capabilities, and how to shape investments in new weapons going forward.
How the ACC addresses these issues and how the USMC and USN find solution sets will have a significant impact on allied forces as well; but so will allied solutions benefit the entire F-35 global enterprise as well.
The Weapons Modernization Opportunity
What makes the F-35 such a rupture from the past is not just the technology within the aircraft or the impact of the fleet, but that the US is standing up its F-35s at the same time as core allies. The potential for cross-fertilization, cross-learning and benefiting from each others investments in weaponization is significant.
A good example of the potential cross benefit involves the impact of the Meteor missile upon those European forces operating both Eurofighter and F-35. With Meteor enabled for Eurofighter and F-35A/Bs, the opportunity for joint stockpiling, joint development and common training for a missile, which can be used on both platforms, is significant.
The Meteor is a software upgradeable air-to-air missile with significant range and capabilities which solves the challenges suggested by General CR Davis mentioned earlier. And being integrated on several 4th generation aircraft – Eurofighter, Rafale and Gripen – as well as the F-35 provides it a solid operational base from which to shape an effective modernization strategy going forward. It is the synergy from the 4th Gen and 5th Gen mix which has yet to be fully grasped but is being trailed by the MAWTS.
Software upgradeability is a game changer for 21st century systems not well understood or highlighted by analysts. In the past, new products would be developed to replace older ones in a progressive but linear dynamic. But now, one builds a core product with software upgradeability built in, and as operational experience is gained, the code is rewritten to shape new capabilities over time. Eventually, one runs out of processor power and BUS performance and needs to consider a new product, but with software upgradeability, the time when one needs to do this is moved significantly forward in time.
It also allows more rapid response to evolving threats. As threats evolve, re-programming the missiles can shape new capabilities, in this case the Meteor missile. The current production missile is believed to be using well below the maximum processing power and bus capacity of the missile. Significant upgradeability is built in from the beginning.
Although software upgradeability is not new with regard to weapon systems, the F-35 as a software upgradeability is.
Combining the launch of a software upgradeable aircraft with a missile designed from the ground up with upgradeability built in will allow the aircraft and the weapon to evolve together over time to deal with evolving threats and challenges.
And underlying the model and the code is a multinational team. And this team is the core capability, which can drive weapons development over time. MBDA has functioned as the prime and has worked with three aircraft manufacturers and radar manufacturers already and is working with additional players as the missile prepares to go onto the F-35.
What has been a challenge – working with 6 air forces – is an opportunity as well. Each of the partners had different takes on the target set they wished the missile to serve. This has meant that the range of targets and engagement envelopes were very wide ranging, from low-level cruise missiles and high flyers, to UAVS, to helos, etc. The end result is a software upgradeable missile with a very wide-ranging initial capability to deal with a diversity of targets
Another key aspect of the missile is it is designed from the beginning to be employed on and off-board. It can be fired by one aircraft and delivered to target by that aircraft or the inflight data link can be used via another asset – air or ground based – to guide it to target.
The missile ought to be integrated into the Block 4 of F-35.
When so done, the missile can provide a sweet spot of 4th and 5th generation weapons integration with its core networking capability.
Because of the nature of software integration on the F-35, the Meteor missile, which will be integrated onto the F-35 due to European requirements, means that it is available to all the other global partners of the F-35 as well.
The Italian Case
An example of synergy among the air combat systems can be seen with regard to the Italian Armed Forces with their future mixed fast-jet fleet of Eurofighters and F-35s.
The first new standard Eurofighter Typhoon built in Italy has rolled out from the Turin-Caselle Plant. The latest Alenia Aermacchi production Eurofighter Typhoon, known as Tranche 3, represents a major achievement in the evolution of the world’s leading combat aircraft.
The Tranche 3 standard embodies a number of changes that effectively enhance the aircraft’s performance and which allow for future upgrades making it more attractive to current and potential export customers.
The first Italian Tranche 3 has been produced for the Italian Air Force by the Eurofighter Partner Companies and assembled by Alenia Aermacchi.
Italy is transitioning as well to become an F-35 defined air power, and as such, the F-35 will operate as the core enabler for the Italian Air Force and Navy.
Lt. General Preziosa, Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force, seen after the SLD interview Credit: SLD
One way to think about the way ahead is to continue to use 4th generation aircraft in surging mass to more classic airpower situations. One would use the F-35 as the key asset up against the distributed operational settings or for operations in denied air space.
Another way to look at it will be to find ways to gain more synergy between the F-35 and the legacy fleet. How can we better utilize our older assets during the process where the F-35 fleet becomes a reality?
Shaping combinations of 4th generation with the F-35s will be a mix and match opportunity in tailoring airpower to the missions ahead.
This is a challenge; but it is a key task within which the F-35s will make the legacy aircraft more effective; and the 4th generation aircraft will add support and strike capabilities to an F-35 enabled air power force.”
Working through how Eurofighters will work with F-35s is an important operational challenge for the Italian forces, but clearly having a common weapon in the form of Meteor can provide cost savings and amortization of support and training costs as well.
And the F-35 will be able to find targets for the Eurofighter, much like the MAWTS F-35s are already doing for the F-18s.
This increases the survivability of both platforms, and gives increased utility and becomes a force-multiplier for Eurofighter in an air operation.
Italy is buying a mixed F-35B and F-35A fleet and it would make a great deal of sense for Italy to work with its partners in Alenia and MBDA to shape a common F-35 approach whereby Meteor can be used on both the A and the B.
Italy has invested significantly in Meteor development and currently manufactures the seeker near Naples. It is clear that cost savings can be obtained from pooling resources for buying, stockpiling and maintaining a common weapons capability for the F-35A, F-35B and Eurofighter.
A key element of any rethink about the future of 21st century airpower is clearly working coalition investments and experiences more effectively in building out common capabilities and shaping greater interoperability for operations. The F-35 provides a unique integrated air combat capability whereby coalitions of joint or allied F-35s can be supported in common.
And linking F-35s with evolving overall joint and coalition combat force will be a key opportunity as well.
For Italy and the UK, as both F-35B operators, and Meteor partners, there is a clear opportunity to leverage joint experience and investments as well.
The UK is in a similar position with Italy (Eurofighter and F-35B operators), there is a natural partnership between the two in shaping a common policy with regard to Meteor integration on the F-35 and the residual ability to leverage the advantages from commonality.
Furthermore, this gives both the UK and Italy an increased operational edge and grants both nations a significant capability for coalition operations which could be leverage to enhance their political influence in those coalition operations.
UK and Italian leadership on Meteor would also draw together other JSF users interested in this capability. It is a case of each country’s natural alliances reinforcing the others.
There are also broader industrial benefits worth considering as well. It is clear that the global F-35 enterprise draws upon a global supply chain; what is not fully realized is that next generation weaponization can both benefit from the F-35 global enterprise and empower legacy aircraft at the same time.
With regard to Italy, Meteor’s integration both F-35 and Eurofighter offers the opportunity to improve the overall Italian industrial return across the F-35 program and reinforces the investment plan for the Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility; expanding the FACO’s role to include the weapon aspects of sustainment is fully in keeping with the vision for a Regional Support Center as clearly articulated by the Italian Government.
In short, developing new weapons for combat aircraft is clearly a core necessity moving forward.
There are clearly major advantages to working commonality across the airfleet, and ensuring that the F-35 is the enabler for the overall weapons enterprise.
The Eurofighter and F-35 may not be the same generation aircraft, but they can share in the benefits of a next generation missile like the Meteor.
[1] Defense News 23rd March 2010
Also the latest news on Storm Shadow integration on the Eurofighter:
We have focused from the outset on the maintainability of the F-35 and the roll out of real world experience in shaping the maintenance regime.
We argued earlier that letting the operators shape the operational path for the F-35 makes a lot of sense; and this clearly goes for the maintainers.
As the first squadron to maintain an F-35B, the VFMA-121 maintainers are clearly key players in shaping the operational reality of the F-35 and its future. The oft bandied about term “concurrency,” which is usually used to criticize the F-35 program actually underscores a strength: the operators – pilots and maintainers – are in a position to shape the roll out and evolution of the F-35 enterprise.
As Secretary Wynne put it with regard to concurrency:
We will always want to feed in the air changes to airplanes one through twenty.
But doing development without deployment guarantees you will not have a new asset out there reshaping capability.
It also guarantees that the impact on operations will be shaped by testers, and not by operators.
In our discussions with both USAF and USMC maintainers, the same attitude and approach comes through: by getting our hands on the airplane we are shaping the maintenance regime.
For example, in a discussion in June 2013 at Eglin AFB with the 58th Crew Chief we had a chance to get a USAF cut at the challenge with shaping the new maintenance regime.
A cart full of more than 280 tools and equipment was previously required to complete brake and tire maintenance on a 33rd Fighter Wing F-35A. The new blue box created by the Airmen of the 58th Aircraft Maintenance Unit’s Support Section reduces the amount of tools required by 81 percent. (U.S. Air Force photo/Samuel King Jr.) 4/3/13
Throughout he emphasized the maintenance of the jet is a work in progress.
As the software evolved for the combat systems, the software for maintaining the aircraft was evolving as well.
The IOC aircraft will represent a core point for stabilizing the intersection of the two software streams to shape an operational squadron and its deployment capabilities.
“We have 12 aircraft currently and are doing the maintenance on these aircraft. These include the early aircraft as well as the production aircraft we are now receiving.”
The original plan was for Lockheed employees to manage the initial maintenance and train the trainers.
But when the aircraft delivery moved to the right, the plan changed and the USAF was doing more of the up front maintenance work
They still had oversight on the maintenance, but as far as the scheduling of the aircraft and the status, serviceability of the aircraft, that all ended up on the Air Force’s hands.
Now, we’ve pretty much transitioned 90 percent Air Force.
We have support from field service engineers here from between Lockheed, BAE and Northrop Grumman.”
The three new block 2 alpha jets had just arrived but until then the maintenance was being performed on 9 aircraft.
With these aircraft, “we have been supporting 6 sorties a day; 4 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.
Usually we had six aircraft because two are functioning as spares. So out of the nine, I had six aircraft on schedule every day.”
The crew chief underscored that working with a maturing system is a challenge but also exciting for his team as well.
“The computerized fault resolution system is not yet mature but that is an advantage. We have to learn ourselves hands on to troubleshoot the systems and it allows us to give feedback to the engineers as well about the systems.”
He saw the maintenance crew as part of the development process in effect.
When visiting Yuma Marine Corps Air Station in July 2014, we were able to discuss the next evolution of the maintenance regime, namely a squadron maintained by its own organic assets.
VMFA-121 is the first F-35 squadron and the first with organic maintenance.
A squadron with organic maintenance simply means that the Marines are manning the maintenance squadron with inputs from technical representatives, but because it is the first operational squadron obviously the Marines need to prepare for overseas deployment and to prepare to support the aircraft in forward positions.
Notably, the squadron has already deployed for movement to the United Kingdom for the Royal Tattoo and Farnbourgh Air Shows but was stopped at Pax River while DOD made its decisions on the go ahead with F-35 fleet engines, a process that concluded favorably but too late to permit the squadron jets to fly across the Atlantic.
They had to fly back across the United States to Yuma on the day we were visiting the squadron.
And the flight to England was viewed as part of the overall progress to the IOC of the aircraft next Summer.
As part of that progress, the maintainers from the squadron accompanied the jets and were prepared to support the plane fully in operation.
In the work up for RIAT/Farnborough, VMFA-121 conducted the first ever engine change away from home station at Pax River.
Installation went quicker/smoother than was predicted, and helped VMFA-121 move closer towards having a combat/expeditionary IOC deployment capability in 2015.
We had a chance to discuss the progress with a powertrain maintainer on the F-35 working at VMFA-121.
Staff Sargent Jason Lunion has been a maintainer since 1999 and his first squadron CO (for VMFA-223) was Lt. General Davis who is now the Deputy Commandant of Aviation.
He most immediately comes from working on engines with the Harrier but has wide range of experience, as one would expect for members of the first squadron with organic maintenance for the USMC in supporting the F-35.
Staff Sgt. Jason Lunion with VMFA-121. Credit: SLD
The F-35 is the first low observable aircraft to be operated by the maritime services, and requires some changes in how the maintainers support the aircraft, and notably at sea.
The discussion with the Staff Sargent highlighted that the low observable qualities of the aircraft created some specific challenges, and one of those, which he mentioned, was working on the panels.
The panels on the aircraft provide easy access for a number of maintenance functions, but as he described it one change is the impact on the T-handles, which open the panels.
“The panel is opened numerous times a day and we are wearing down T-handles that provide access to the panel and wearing down the fasteners themselves.”
He was asked about the general shift from legacy to LO maintenance and highlighted that the Marines have not operated an LO aircraft before so there is a learning curve.
“There is a drastic increase in awareness when you are working around the aircraft.”
A key aspect of the aircraft is the use of computer aided maintenance and sensor-informed systems.
The Staff Sargent focused on how the sensor-enabled aircraft was also a work in progress much has one has seen with new commercial aircraft which rely heavily on sensors to provide data about performance and maintenance demands.
“When a sensor indicates a problem, is it the sensor or is a real problem?”
He also added that “because of all these sensors, and all these little gadgets on the motor that are supposed to eventually take this to a on-condition inspection basis, until their maturity’s reached, we’re going to continue to have a lot of fine tuning to do.”
He noted that compared to the Harrier working on the F-35 engine was much easier.
“With regard to the Harrier, you have to remove the wing and then crane the engine out. That is clearly not very maintainer friendly, but the F-18 is a different case where removal of the engine is straightforward.”
When asked about his overall experience, he emphasized that some aspects were welcome additions, and others were a work in progress.
Three F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and two AV-8B Harriers with Marine Attack Squadron 211, 3rd MAW, fly in a “V” formation during fixed-wing aerial refueling training over eastern California, Aug. 27, 2013. The F-35B joint strike fighters practiced refueling with Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 352. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Michael Thorn)
“We were told it was designed to be maintainer friendly, and obviously, we’re finding as with any platform, you’re going to find certain things that are maintenance friendly, and there’s certain things that are not.
But we haven’t really found anything that’s extremely difficult working on this aircraft.
I think the biggest challenges to date are due to the immaturity of the technical data that we used to fix the plane.”
He highlighted that the lift fan was turning into a good maintenance experience.
“The lift fan isn’t as hard as anybody was originally thinking when we started. The tolerances in the airframe for pulling a motor is so tight in a Harrier that you, at times, have to literally shake the motor free of some of the stuff that’s in the way on the airframe. With the F-35, this is not a problem.”
His major complaint was that the unit wanted to ensure that they were able to get into a position whereby the maintainers could be able to work with the whole aircraft and maintain it as a single entity.
“I think the single biggest difference going from a Harrier community to coming here is not the maturity of the aircraft because that was expected.
It is the lack of technical publications that really are impediments.
We continue to work towards a comprehensive and complete technical pubs library to realize/maximize the efficiencies the F-35 brings.”
In some ways, the conversation with the Staff Sargent recalls the learning process associated with the Osprey.
And in an interview with a senior maintainer in New River in the Summer of 2013, Major Rhobotham, VMM-364 Remain Behind Element (RBE) Officer in Charge (OIC), significant change was in process with regard to Osprey maintenance.
According to Major Rhobotham a culture change accompanying the I-Pad generation pilots was happening with the maintainers as well:
A major change, which I have experienced, but really is not talked about, is the role of the new generation and their ability to process information and combat learning.
The new generation grew up with such an influx of information that they are able to process information in ways that are a challenge for me, and for my parent’s generation are impossible.
And it makes them amazing mechanics.
My Marines downstairs can flip through publications and can resource four or five different sources of information and come up with amazingly creative solutions to problems.
When I grew up, you would go to the library, you’d grab the encyclopedia, you’d get the first cut from the encyclopedia, you’d then grab two or three references, beyond that you’d support your theory, your statement, your thesis, whatever it was.
For this generation, they are very used to opening up a source and saying well, I can’t prove that this information that was published by so-and-so on this website’s true. And they’ll grab something 180 out, cross-reference it and make an assessment, and that is a significant capability for troubleshooting.
We have items that don’t always fail the same way every day. For example, I’m getting an indication in the cockpit of a certain failure, and these new mechanics can go through one publication, and it will indicate that they are to test this wire, or that wire, and if those pass, change the sensor, and then after that, you call an engineer.
And these young men and women are incredibly creative.
They will look at a different publication that was talking about a similar sensor in a different part of the aircraft, it has these three other steps. Why aren’t these three steps in here?
And then, the next thing you know, they have built procedures that we then write into the process.
I attribute it to the way their brains and the way they’re socially trained even from a young age to look at information and not necessarily believe that just because it’s written in a book it’s the end all, be all.
This thinking process is crucial, especially with an airplane that’s complicated as the V-22.
Editor’s Note: We have looked at the rollout of the maintenance system during visits to Eglin AFB and with the 33rd Fighter Wing.
We focused as well in a 2011 dialogue with Lt. Col. Sampsel (since retired) and Secretary Wynne on the challenge of shaping a new approach.
And we have published a book on the F-35 maintenance revolution.
The Sampsel-Wynne discussion focused on the challenge of transition and the cultural shift associated with F-35 global maintenance over time.
The following chart captured the complexity of the transition and the challenges on the way ahead.
Col. Sampsel focused on the challenges of transition for F-35 maintenance. Credit: SLD
And in a 2009 interview with Bob Fiorentini, the then Lockheed Marin VP for Global Strategic Sourcing, the significance of common tools was underscored:
A core element of the approach has been upon designing and building tools for both manufacturing and sustainment. Fiorentini underscored that “we are designing and building dual use tools versus build and then sustainment tools.”
In other words, many of the tools used in the build of the aircraft will be deployed to the filed. This leads to cost containment for the tool building companies who get a much longer run because they are producing for both production and sustainment processes.
This also leads according to Fiorentini “to much earlier maturity for tools used in sustainment than has been the case in legacy programs…..
in the design and production of the F-35 future sustainment has been built in wherever possible.
And design features like the reduction of panels, which need to be removed to do repairs, reduce downtime.
“Many of the components of the airplane which in legacy aircraft required panel removal are now built into the weapons and landing gear bays where no panel disassembly is required for most commonly serviced parts of the aircraft.”
“The maintainers for the F-35 use a ruggedized laptop to do initial systems checks.
In legacy aircraft, very specialized equipment proprietary to the manufacturer has to be used.
And again, the same procedures used in the factory are those used in the field for final test out for flight.
And Fiorentini emphasized that the build to maintain has enhanced significantly the reliability on the flight line. “
We use one data base throughout the design and maintenance process.
This guarantees consistency and will provide important metrics for sustainment.
And the use of the same design tools to design for production and sustainment tooling ensures compatibility throughout.”
During our recent visit to Yuma Marine Corps Air Station, we talked with officers from both the VFMA-121 Squadron and MAWTS-1.
VFM-121 brought us up to speed on the rollout of the F-35B to IOC next year; MAWTS-1 provided us a perspective on the evolving tactics and training for that aircraft, as well as discussing with us the various roles, which MAWTS-1 performs for the Marine Corps air/ground team, both for Marine Corps Aviation and the MAGTF.
(The history of MAWTS-1 can be seen in the USMC official historical statement at the end of the article).
We had a chance to talk with the Operations Officer of MAWTS 1, Major Douglas Seich.
Among other discussion points was an overview on MAWTS-1, its mission sets, its activities, its working approaches and the way ahead.
The role of the squadron is to provide “standardized advanced tactical training and certification of unit instructor qualifications that support Marine Aviation Training and Readiness. MAWTS-1 also provides assistance in the development and employment of aviation weapons and tactics.”
The squadron works with new and older aviation assets, and trains the trainers. It shapes ways to work the new in with the old and in supporting the infantry units in the MAGTF globally. It works with other services, in shaping tactics and training approaches, and given its location works closely with the USAF in Nellis, and with the F-35 will work closely with Luke and Nellis in shaping new tactics and training approaches as that aircraft enters the fleet.
The squadron runs two WTI courses a year which stands for Weapons and Tactics Instruction and various activities and exercises with Marines and others to shape the evolving future concepts of operations as well.
The core tasks identified in the briefing by Major Seich were as follows:
MAWTS Missions. Credit: MAWTS-1
The size of MAWTS is around 200 total personnel with about half of those being officers.
MAWTS obviously grows during the time the WTIs are conducted.
For example, with regard to the first WTI this year there were 236 students involved, but then with an additional 92 aircraft and more than 4000 maintenance personnel with 2350 sorties generated.
The basic WTI course design focuses upon “training the trainer.”
And covers a number of key element: Offensive air support, control of aircraft and missiles, assault support, aerial reconnaissance, anti air warfare, electronic warfare and aviation ground support.
In a separate interview, we discussed the role of F-35 integration with Major Greenwood, one of the two MAWTS F-35 pilots currently at MAWTS.
Major Seich provided a look at the creation of new units and capabilities within MAWTS over the past 10 years.
In 2004 saw the establishment of an Air Officer Department working the role of the ground-to air integration efforts.
He highlighted that the availability of joint training money was crucial to the functioning of MAWTS and that in 2005 they established a Joint National Training Capability and a Tactical Risk Management capability as well.
The services have recognized the need to work more effectively together.
The service chiefs have created the Joint Training Capability Fund (JTCF) to support such efforts.
The Fund provides money and assets to work together.
For example, the Marine Corps does not have enough fourth generation aircraft adversaries for our exercises.
We bring down USN and USAF platforms to play that role. To pay for that funding comes from the JTCF.
In 2011, the squadron created a Re-Black program which is designed to bing back MAWTS graduates for a three day event to provide them updates with new tactics and training approaches since they have gone through MAWTS.
Majors Greenwood and Seich Outside of the MAWTS-1 Building. Credit: SLD
And in 2012 MAWTS started focusing on training and tactics for long-range tiltorotar assault capabilities with the Infantry Battalion Training or TALONEX.
And last year set up two new divisions, the F-35B division and the Spectrum Warfare Division.
The Spectrum Warfare Division is a Division within C3 which focuses on: cyber domain operations, EW operations and MAGTF integration. And an area of interest is clearly working on the Anti-Access/Area Denial challenge. And obviously standing up the F-35B and Spectrum Warfare Division provides the opportunity for them to be mutually supportive and interactive.
Clearly, MAWTS is a living organism, which builds interactively upon real world combat experience.
Question: How does MAWTS integrated lessons learned from combat?
Major Seich:
We do that in a number of ways.
The students coming through the course have just come from recent combat experience.
And we send MAWTS instructors to combat theaters for about a month at various points and they bring back lessons learned.
We are able to look at what we do not know and what we need to know based on evolving combat situations.
What is changing that we do not know about?”
By and large, MAWTS uses the ranges in the Southwest of the United States to perform its exercises and training.
And the interactivity with the USAF, USN and US Army is important.
With regard to the US Army working with the Patriot has been significant, and the USAF has operated various assets including F-22s, F-15s, and F-16s and the Navy with F-18s are all important for the WTIs.
MAWTS exercise ranges. Credit: MAWTS-1
Interestingly, the F-22s from Nellis have participated and have functioned as part of an assault force.
According to Major Seich: “We have operated with F-22s to augment the Blue Forces working with us to perform certain functions.”
Question: Have you focused on F-22 and 4th generation aircraft integration by working with F-22s?
Major Seich:
We have for a number of years worked on this with the USAF.
For example, the F-18 and the C3 shops put on an air tactics course twice a year.
This focuses largely on air- to air. It is a four-week course and in 2010 we did an integration approach with the F-22, which was quite successful.
Question: With the work you have done, could an F-22 package work with an ARG-MEU in supporting a USN-USMC assault package?
Major Seich: Absolutely.
Foreign participation can occur as well in the WTI courses, and the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Israel have all send participants in various WTI events.
Notably, with Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station emerging as the key training facility for US and allied F-35Bs, the road from Beaufort and MAWTS will undoubtedly become well travelled.
Editor’s Note: We have argued earlier that an F-22 Raptor package (e.g. Rapid Raptor) might function in interesting ways with the carrier strike or amphibious assault group.
The following official USMC statement about the squadron provides the history of MAWTS-1:
The origin of MAWTS-1 may be traced to the aftermath of World War II when Marine pilots were first assigned to Navy Composite Squadrons (VCs). These squadrons, operating from shore bases and carriers, were assigned the special weapons delivery mission. In 1952, with the introduction of improved weapons and aircraft, the Marines were reassigned to Marine Special Weapons Delivery Units (SWDUs) on each coast.
These units were short lived because their mission was given to attack squadrons in 1953. Special Weapons Training Units (SWTUs) were then formed to provide necessary training to the attack squadrons. During the 1960’s, conventional weapons delivery was added to the curriculum of the SWTUs, but the emphasis on special weapons delivery remained.
In response to their growing mission, the size of the SWTUs was increased, and they were redesignated as Marine Air Weapons Training Units, MAWTULant at Cherry Point, North Carolina, and MAWTUPac at El Toro, California. These units continued to expand throughout the 1960’s in types of aircraft assigned and in the development of new curriculum. In 1975, a study group was formed at Headquarters Marine Corps to determine requirements for the enhancement and standardization of aviation training.
A series of recommendations, labeled as numbered projects, were made to the head of Marine Aviation and to CMC in early 1976. Project 19 recommended establishment of the Weapons and Tactics Training Program (WTTP) for all of Marine Aviation.
Maj. Eric Grunke, an AV-8B Harrier instructor pilot, Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics One, Yuma, Ariz., straps on his aviator helmet and checks his communications before support a rehearsal of Close Air Support and Forward Air Controller (Airborne) operations with Swedish aviators from the Swedish Air Force Operation, Tactics and Procedures division and SwAF UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopters from the 21st Black Hawk Helicopter Wing. Marine aviation instructors from Marine Air Weapons and Tactics One, Yuma, Ariz., introduced Forward Air Controller (Airborne) and Close Air Support concepts, tactics, and procedures for evaluation into the Swedish Air Force’s aviation training with SwAF pilots from the 21st UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter Wing and the JAS-39 Grippen Operations, Tactics and Evaluations division, August 5-23 2013 at Malmen Military Base, Linköping, Sweden. Credit: MAWTS-1
The cornerstone of the WTTP was the development of a graduate level Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) Course and the placement of WTI graduates in training billets in every tactical unit in Marine Corps aviation. In late 1976 and early 1977, separate WTI Courses were conducted by MAWTUPac and MAWTULant. Consolidated WTI Courses were subsequently conducted at Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, Arizona, by a combined MAWTU staff in May 1977 and February 1978.
Due to the overwhelming success of the consolidated WTI Courses, the Commandant of the Marine Corps commissioned Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One at Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, Arizona, on 1 June 1978.
The WTI Course is a fully integrated course of instruction for highly experienced and fully qualified officers from all aviation communities. Officers from ground combat, combat support, and combat service support also attend the course to ensure appropriate air-ground interface. The WTI course academic syllabus allows the WTI candidate to put classroom lessons to work in the air.
Briefing and debriefing techniques and airborne instructional skills are reviewed and tactics and weapons systems employment are evaluated. The course culminates in a fully integrated combined arms exercise encompassing all functions of Marine Corps aviation in support of a national Marine Air Ground Task Force.
Since its commissioning in 1978, MAWTS-1 has conducted two WTI Courses per year, now producing over 300 WTI graduates each year. A separate Aviation Development, Tactics and Evaluation Department (ADT&E) was established in June 1983 to coordinate the MAWTS effort of developing and evaluating tactics and hardware in all functional areas of Marine Corps aviation. In 1988, a Ground Combat Department was established at MAWTS-1 to encourage increased participation during the WTI course by infantry, artillery and armor officers.
MAWTS-1 conducts several other embedded courses during WTI to include the Intelligence Officers Course, Aviation Ground Support and Logistic Officers Course, the Rotary Wing Crew Chief and KC-130 Navigator, Loadmaster, Flight Engineer Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course, and the MACCS Enlisted Weapons and Tactics Courses.
The advanced curriculum includes the Tactical Air Commanders Course, MEU/SPMAGTF ACE Commanders Course, and the MAWTS-1 Commanders Course. MAWTS-1 personnel conduct a Mobile Training curriculum consisting of the MEU ACE Training Course, the MAGTF Aviation Integration Course, and the Marine Division Tactics Course. MAWTS-1 also maintains close, mutually beneficial liaison with the aviation and tactics schools of the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and several allied nations.
Since its establishment, MAWTS-1 has been staffed by individuals of superior aeronautical and tactical expertise, instructional abilities, and professionalism. From Northern Europe to the Caribbean, the Western Pacific to the Persian Gulf, Somalia and Bosnia, MAWTS-1 has responded to the needs of the Fleet Marine Force.
Each MAWTS-1 instructor averages over 90 days every year providing support to FMF units at their home bases or while deployed, including certification, standardization, and supplementary ground and airborne instruction for every aviation squadron in the Corps.
The WTI Course is recognized as the most comprehensive graduate level aviation course of instruction in the world today. It is through the dedication and untiring efforts of its personnel that MAWTS-1 has earned its reputation as the vanguard of Marine aviation.
MAWTS-1 was awarded the Navy Unit Citation for the period 1982-85. In 1986 and 1995, MAWTS-1 was named Marine Corps Aviation Association Special Category Squadron of the Year and it also received the Meritorious Unit Citation in 1988, 1990, and 1995.
In the video above the initial component to Final Exercise One for Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One Weapons and Tactics Instructors Course is shown which began on April 23, 2013, at the Laguna Army Air Field in Yuma, Ariz.
The culminating event tested the skills taught to student pilots and ground operators throughout their training at MCAS Yuma. FINX-1 consisted of approximately 600 Marines from 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C.
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 for its trip to its initial home part at San Diego, California and then will be commissioned in San Francisco in mid-October 2014.
A number of innovations have been built in from the beginning. This is the first large deck amphibious ship that does not have a well deck for launching amphibious infantry vehicles, which has been a focus of controversy, so much so that a well deck will be added in the third variant of the USS America class. According to NavSea, the next variant of the USS America will be designed to enable the aviation work flow aboard the current variant to be largely maintained.
The well deck has been removed to change the capability of the ship to support airborne amphibious assault, and given the innovations generated in recent years by the USMC in such capabilities, and those already in train with the coming of the F-35B, the ship is a key part of changing how the USN and USMC team can do amphibious assault from the sea.
One innovation is simply how it is built.
Large deck carriers can be built in only a quite long period and are built in dry docks, which are large and expensive to build. The USS America can be built by factory methods and around 70% put together before it goes to the dry dock. This allows the numbers of this type of ship to be built up over time, using innovative production methods.
In an interview with Captain Chris Mercer, Program Manager USS America, the design of the ship and innovation was the focus of attention.
We have our partner design agents in Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) who joined with us to design the ship specifically for that synergy of the MV22 and joint strike fighter through air ship integration work.
That’s how we arrived at the design that we have for the Flight 0 ships America and Tripoli, which is LHA-7… inside the ship, we’ve got plenty of margins to bring in those C5ISR systems into our command and control spaces, and electronic suite spaces.
Certainly we have designed plenty of footprint for the various types of antennas they might need.
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.
This graphic focuses upon the USS America deck synergy and the workflow thereby facilitated. Credit: Second Line of Defense
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.
The ship’s skipper in an interview aboard his ship in June 2014 underscored that the enhanced workflow of the crew working the Marines will allow the ship to generate greater operational tempo than a traditional amphibious ship.
And the ship will be able to operate much further from the objective area due to the capabilities of the Ospreys and combined with the F-35Bs will have the ability to insert force over much greater distance than a traditional amphibious ship.
He also emphasized the overall impact on and the ability to live off a cluster of innovations.
“I’m pretty excited to see the innovative approaches and ideas AMERICA facilitates with regard to amphibious ops and warfighting in general.”
The captain himself is part of the innovative process. The Captain is an experienced CRUDES officer. For those of us not raised in the USN, this means an officer with Cruiser-Destroyer surface fleet background.
And for Navy folks he would be described as a “black shoe” as opposed to a “brown shoe.” Again for those of us who have not served in the USN this refers coming from the surface ship community rather than the aviation community.
As Ed Timperlake has underscored: it is important to remember that Admiral Halsey, when he went into the hospital before the Battle of Midway recommended that his surface ship Commander (a “black shoe” in Navy parlance) Admiral Spruance take command of Task Force 16, the USS Enterprise and USS Hornet battle group. Admiral Nimitz CINCPAC, a submariner, accepted Halsey’s recommendation. He leaned on the ability of Spruance to maneuver the ships, to attack and withdraw as a key element of operational dominance.
With regard to enabling innovation, this ship addresses a key gap in the fleet.
A key limitation facing the 21st century assault force is sustainability and operational tempo.
The USS America has been built to provide both for the tiltrotar enabled assault force.
There is space to maintain and sustain the Osprey and the other aviation assets, and prepares for the coming of the F-35B as the ISR C2 asset taking the assault force to another level of capability.
The fuel capacity of the ship is interesting as well in terms of operations. The ship has more than double the fuel capacity of a traditional LHA. Obviously, such capacity is important for organic operations, but to support forces ashore or for humanitarian assistance or disaster relief operations, having deployed fuel is a huge advantage to support operations as well.
Rear Adm. Frank L. Ponds, commander, Expeditionary Strike Group 3, addresses the media during a press conference on the flight deck on board the future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6). America is currently traveling through the U.S. Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet area of responsibility on its maiden transit, “America visits the Americas.” 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 MV-22 Osprey and F-35B Joint Strike Fighter. The ship is scheduled to be ceremoniously commissioned Oct. 11 in San Francisco. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jonathan A. Colon/Released)
The ship is part of a cluster of innovations, which the USN-USMC team is bringing to amphibious operations. The ship begin its service life with Ospreys onboard, and the USMC as the only tiltrotar enabled force in the world is re-inventing ways to do long distance rapid force insertion.
The range and speed of the Osprey and the pairings with the KC-130J have led to the formation of a radical innovation, namely the SP-MAGTF-CR. And with it the ability to operate a great distances, the force can influence events more rapidly and with more agility than hitherto.
For example, in late December 2013, an SP-MAGTF embarked from Spain for South Sudan on a noncombat evacuation mission (NEO). 160 Marines and Sailors from the Special Force Marine Air Ground Task Force Crisis Response were flown by 2 KC-130s Hercules and 4 MV-22B Ospreys from Spain where they are temporarily based to Djibouti and then Uganda.
With 3,400 nautical miles (flying distance from Denver to Honolulu) this was the longest-range insert ever performed by this force thanks to its self-deployable capability.
The range and speed of the Osprey have generated pressures to shape new ways to empower the Ground Combat Element (GCE) coming off of the Ospreys. The GCE coming off the Osprey is not the same as coming off of a rotorcraft; the force needs to think differently and operate differently to maximize mission effectiveness.
As the Marines have focused upon ways to take small group insertion forces over greater distance to perform NEO and other combat operations, a key problem has been how to rethink the role of empowering the Marines in the back of the Ospreys with much greater situational awareness during the flight. When a ground combat force enters the back of an Osprey and flies several hours as opposed to minutes to the objective area, how best to do the mission planning on the fly?
To answer this question, the leadership of the Infantry Officer Course at Quantico has been working with VMX-22 to think through the problem and to engage in several exercises to shape the way ahead.
The ground-air integration built into the USMC is a significant facilitator for change as new aviation assets are added. But the change will not happen without significant engagement of ground force leaders.
Marines Infantry Units have been experimenting over the past few months with ways to shape new ways to connect the Ground Combat Element (GCE) within an insertion mission. The approach has been to deploy the GCE over a tiltrotor-enabled distance and to insert the force with situational awareness, which can enhance mission success. The connectivity technologies being worked on and refined by the Marines are providing an important compliment to the flexibility of the Osprey itself in terms of the ability to operate very flexibly in terms of approaches and departures from a landing zone.
Experiments over the past 15 months with new ways to connect the GCE within an insertion mission will lead 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 USS America is the seabase from which tiltrotar innovation receives a significant boost and the newly enabled GCE will operate, with an ability to sustain and support the force at much greater distance from the objective area, if needed.
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. And in a recent experiment where the Marines assaulted San Clemente Island in an exercise, the Marines began to sketch out a new way to think about Close Air Support.
Operating from the training base in Twentynine Palms and landing on San Clemente Island off of California, approximately 100 students from the Infantry Officer Course in Quantico flew aboard Ospreys the simulated test area to eliminate cruise missile threats and take back an airfield from enemy forces.
The exercise was conducted by the Infantry Officer Course paired with VMX-22 and the Ospreys were accompanied by a specially configured Osprey with an airborne communication gateway with a Wi-Fi network that linked the tables carried by the squads riding in the Ospreys.
The Cat Bird, the F-35 surrogate sensor aircraft, which operated its sensor sent real time information about the objective area to the Marines in route to the objective area. The information shared was maps and images as well as text messaging among the ground force element aboard the Ospreys.
The F-35s went in and provided the capability to eliminate the ground missile threats and allowed a distributed company to be inserted to do their job. In other words, the Osprey carried the force; the F-35 surrogate providing the cover which could insert the force more effectively. Such an approach has NOTHING to do with the classic thinking of how a rotorcraft force would approach the challenge of ground force insertion into air enabled contested areas.
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
08/03/2014: CARIBBEAN SEA (July 19, 2014) A tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey prepares to land aboard the future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6).
America is traveling through the U.S. Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet area of responsibility on her maiden transit
Credit:USS America: July 31, 2014
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).
By MC1 John Scorza, USS America (LHA 6) Public Affairs
7/24/14
COVENAS, Colombia (NNS) — Sailors and Marines assigned to the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force (SPMAGTF) South debarked the future USS America (LHA 6) to begin a three-day bilateral exercise with Colombian Marines, at the International Center for Amphibious Training located in Covenas, Colombia July 16.
Unlike other ships making their maiden voyage, the amphibious assault ship America embarked Marine units to immediately begin amphibious operations.
After only five days at sea, America sent 39 Marines to the flight deck to embark two MV-22 Osprey, assigned to the “Spartans” of Marine Operational and Test Evaluation Squadron (VMX) 22, beginning their transit to Covenas, Colombia to participate in training evolutions with the Colombian marine corps, or Infanteria de Marina de Colombia.
The engagement provided an opportunity for information exchanges and training with the partner nation of Colombia, enhancing interoperability and building on a partnership that fosters regional security in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility.
“The main purpose for the visit was to continue to develop the relationship between the Infanteria De Marina and the U.S. Marine Corps,” said Marine Capt. Blaine Barby, SPMAGTF South ground combat element commander. “The Colombians have a significant marine corps, and Colombia is a significant partner in our counter-narcotic operations. It is absolutely critical that we maintain a good relationship between our [militaries].”
The U.S. Marine element split into four groups during the training, which encompassed information exchanges in medical combat casualties, improvised explosive devices (IED), hand-to-hand combat, and live-fire, small arms weapons shoots.
Simultaneously, training began in all four areas. According to Colombian Lt. Col. Juan Camilo Franco Palacios, commander of the International Center of Amphibious Training, the IED information exchange was one of the most important stations and said with the war in Afghanistan drawing down, Colombia has become the highest area of IED concentration in the world.
Colombia is currently at war with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), a terrorist organization funded by kidnapping for ransom, illegal mining, extortion, and the production and distribution of illegal drugs. The two have been at war for 50 years.
Palacios and his team began the information exchange by conveying their problems, showing the various types of IEDs they encountered and discussing the FARC’s tactics.
“The Colombian IED problem is very significant,” said Barby. “I think one of their biggest problems is the lack of IED personnel overall. All of their marines are cross-trained on counter-IED tactics, but the country is big. It’s a thick jungle, and they can’t always get IED technicians to the site of an IED. So, often times when they find one, they are forced to detonate it and are unable to gather any information on it.”
After listening and evaluating the Colombian marines’ experiences, the U.S. Marines discussed the tactics they encountered in Afghanistan and offered procedures to help counteract threats the Colombians’ face.
“One of the things that we brought to the table is expressing to them the importance of rendering the IED safe and learning from it. They understand the importance of it, but sometimes the actual application of implementing those procedures is the most challenging part,” said Barby.
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”. 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 MV-22 Osprey and F-35B Joint Strik Fighter. The ship is scheduled to be ceremoniously commissioned Oct. 11 in San Francisco.
U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command / U.S. 4th Fleet and U.S. Marine Forces South support U.S. Southern Command’s joint and combined military operations by employing maritime forces in cooperative maritime security operations in order to maintain access, enhance interoperability, and build enduring partnerships in order to enhance regional security and promote peace, stability, and prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South American regions.
2014-08-08 According to a USMC press release, the Marines are working with the Norwegians to enhance collaboration.
U.S. Marines, in coordination with their Norwegian counterparts, are scheduled to conduct a pre-planned Single Ship Movement and offload of military equipment from a Maritime Prepositioning Force ship in the Trøndelag region of Norway mid-August.
A Bandvagn 206 drives over trees to provide traction over difficult terrain where it could have gotten stuck. Marines and Norwegian soldiers spent three days learning to work together and how to operate in the Norwegian winter environment to prepare the Marines and soldiers for Exercise Cold Response, which is a multinational and multilateral training exercise. Credit: USMC, Europe. 3/14/14
This equipment will significantly enhance the readiness of the Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway by placing approximately 350 containers of gear and nearly 400 pieces of heavy rolling stock into the storage caves.
Specific equipment which will greatly increase the programs readiness includes M1A1 Main Battle Tanks, Tank Retrievers, Armored Breeching Vehicles, Amphibious Assault Vehicles, Expanded Capacity Vehicle (ECV) Gun Trucks and several variants of the MTVR 7 ½ ton trucks.
Planning for this equipment refresh began in the fall of 2013.
This offload will be the first time a newly constructed pier in the region will be tested, providing an opportunity for Marines and their Norwegian counterparts to work an offload while increasing the operational readiness of the program significantly.
This routine equipment refresh also emphasizes the strong military bond between the U.S. and our Norwegian counterparts and sustains an already solid foundation for future cooperation.
This Single Ship Initiative also improves interoperability between the nations, enhancing access to a key strategic region within the U.S. European Command area-of-responsibility.
