By Robbin Laird

During my visit to MAWTS-1 during the first week of November 2023, I had a chance to talk with Colonel Eric Purcell, the CO of MAWTS-1 about the coming of the CH-53K to the USMC. This is the third new air system I have seen come to the USMC since I have been coming to Yuma, but because it doesn’t look as different as the other two did from their legacy ancestors, it is often not fully realized how important it will be for the USMC and the joint force.

Purcell is the first CH-53 pilot to be the CO of MAWTS-1 which is propitious as the CH-53K has been part of this year’s WTIs at MAWTS-1. He has more than 3000 hours on the CH-53E and 130 hours on the CH-53D. He has had two deployments to Afghanistan and two to Iraq, and additional visits to both countries as well.

He noted that he wished they had not called it the CH-53 for the CH-53K is so different from the legacy aircraft. It is designed to fit into the deck space of an CH-53E and to have a reduced footprint for its maintenance as well.

But the big difference is associated with the broader changes across the Marine Corps. When I was last at MAWTS-1 in 2020, they were starting to work on how to enhance the deployability and mobility of the Marine Corps and to do so in formations smaller than the traditional MAGTF. During this visit, my discussions with the department heads underscored how much work they have done in terms of doing expeditionary basing, innovations in Forward Refueling and Re-Arming points and ways to reduce the signature of the deployed force.

The CH-53K, in Col Purcell’s view, contributed to that in a significant way. He focused on the ability of the King Stallion with its triple hooks to carry significant loads to operating locations without having to land and be on the ground for the time necessary to unload from the interior of the aircraft. He pointed out that the aircraft could carry significant fuel loads – 54,000 pounds of fuel — to locations the F-35B might operate from and could do so with external lift rather than having to land.

Both the Osprey and the heavy lift helo could carry fuel inside and work as fuel providers to aircraft at a FARP. But being on the ground for significant time to do this exposed the aircraft to much greater risk than coming in and dropping off fuel from their external three hook system.

He pointed out that the legacy aircraft two hook system could lead on occasion to “uncommanded” load releases whereby the system on the aircraft would not be able to judge correctly whether loads on the hooks were compromising the safety of the aircraft. Systems on the aircraft prioritized aircraft safety over carrying loads and might jettison a load.

The CH-53K’s systems can correctly determine whether the load being carried by the aircraft affect the center of gravity of the aircraft, which is central to its security, and can make more accurate decisions with regard to the safety of the aircraft.

He noted that the load carrying capacity of the aircraft meant that it could carry an Osprey which might be in a location where it could not get repairs needed to fly safely to a location where it could be repaired. Some of the weight, such as the seats, would have to be removed to do so, but it could be done.

Col Purcell underscored that in Afghanistan and Iraq many of the missions which the CH-53E did were medium lift. The CH-53K is optimized for heavy lift and both the Marine Corps and the joint force need to focus on its unique capabilities to support distributed logistics as no other rotorcraft can do in the force. It is optimized for heavy lift, and it is important to capitalize on its unique capabilities.

The CH-53K can be part of a logistic chain involving cargo aircraft like the C-17, the C-5 and the C-130, in that it can carry 463L pallets and work with fixed wing cargo aircraft to transfer their pallets to the Super Stallion and then deliver them in places only a rotorcraft can go.

The new motors on the King Stallion allow it to operate in conditions where one would not want to operate an aging CH-53E fleet. The power margins of the new aircraft are much greater than the legacy aircraft.

He concluded: “The force will see the impact of the revolutionary design of the CH-53K to carry heavy loads long range and to enhance significantly the logistical capability of the force and to move in and out of objective areas more rapidly than the legacy system.”

Featured Image: A U.S. Marine Corps CH-53K King Stallion helicopter, assigned to Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One, executes an external lift of a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle during Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) course 1-24 at Auxiliary Airfield II, near Yuma, Arizona, Oct. 3, 2023. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Elizabeth Gallagher.

By Robbin Laird

I wrote a chapter in the 2018 book entitled, One Nation Under Drones, which focused on the experience of the USMC with UAVs to date. I wrote this piece as the Marines were shifting from the primary focus on the land wars and to an enhanced focus on amphibious operations. During operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Marines joined in with the U.S. Army and used the Shadow unmanned aerial system, for similar operations as the U.S. Army was engaged in the land wars.

But concurrently with the introduction of Shadow into the Corps, the ScanEagle was also introduced.  And this system would fit the trajectory of the evolution of the Corps as it moved from a primary occupation with the land wars to a “return to the sea” and the joining of unmanned systems to the significant evolution of the Amphibious-Read Group and Marine Expeditionary Unit pairing into a flexible amphibious ready task force, a change driven initially by the introduction of the Osprey but being reshaped as other manned aircraft systems come to the force and unmanned systems woven into the overall force insertion capability of the amphibious task force.

The Scan Eagle-Blackjack transition was part of the shift in focus from the land wars to amphibious at sea operations. When I wrote the essay the focus was upon shaping capabilities to be launched from a ship to support the ground maneuver element. At the time, the Marine Corps leadership was focused on a program called MUX (MAGTF Unmanned eXpeditionary UAS) which the aviation plan at the time projected initial operations in the 2025 time frame.

But as the then Deputy Commandant of Aviation, LtGen Rudder noted in 2020, that the MUX was being shelved in favor of a different approach.

“I think what we discovered with the MUX program is that it’s going to require a family of systems. The initial requirement had a long list of very critical requirements, but when we did the analysis and tried to fit it inside one air vehicle,” they realized they had competing needs, Rudder said.

“With a family of systems approach, my sense is we’re going to have an air vehicle that can do some of the requirements, some of the higher-end requirements, potentially from a land-based high-endurance vehicle, but we’re still going to maintain a shipboard capability, it just may not be as big as we originally configured.”

“The MUX program – formally the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Expeditionary – was meant to be a Group 5 UAS, the largest of the categories with highest altitude and greatest endurance. It would cover seven missions: command, control and communication; early warning; persistent fires; escort; electronic warfare; reconnaissance, intelligence, surveillance and target acquisition (RISTA); and tactical distribution…

“Program officials realized they had a huge task ahead of them with so many separate missions, though, and early industry talks showed it may become cost-prohibitive. The seven missions were later sorted into two tiers of priority.

“Still, as Rudder said, it became clear that those higher priority missions were incompatible with shipboard launch and recovery.

“Power output and weight capacity, obviously you get more weight and power output with a ground-based system with a longer runway, expeditionary runway, than you can coming vertically off the back of a ship. Shipboard compatibility continues to be a challenge for all our air vehicles,” Rudder said.”

What has happened since that time is the USMC is buying into the Reaper program and relying on a land based remotely piloted vehicle to provide the support Marines would require for their at sea and from the sea operations. The Marines leased two Reapers from General Atomics since 2018 but then moved from leasing to buying the aircraft in 2021.

When I visited MAWTS-1 in November 2023, I learned how the force was practically moving ahead. MAWTS-1 is a place focused on training an integrated USMC force, not pursing systems that are simply “fairy dust” as one Marine put it to me. It is about how to make the force ready to fight tonight and to do so more effectively.

I discussed the integration of the Reaper into USMC operations with the LtCol Edgardo Cardona, the Executive Officer at MAWTS-1, who is a former DASC officer and current MQ-9A Reaper pilot. LtCol Edgardo Cardona is one of the pilots where the Marines have created a new MOS, which is the 7318 MOS. The Marine Corps Reaper unlike its Predator brethren is not armed so there is not a competition between remotely piloted or manned systems in terms of being trigger pullers.

It is about enhancing the relevant ISR to provide for more effective insertion of force and enabling that force in terms of their operations. This is notably one the most significant changes since I last came to MAWTS-1 in 2020.

The career of the XO has paralleled that of the evolution of USMC experience in UAVs so that he is both a core officer in the evolution of USMC capabilities but has also embodied the transition from the Middle East and the Marines use of Shadow, Scan Eagle, Blackjack and K-MAX.  He has been on the ground floor for the introduction of the Reaper to the Marine Corps.

The XO pointed out that his earlier experience at MAWTS-1 with UAVs, the focus was on deconfliction of the UAVs designed to provide ISR for the ground combat element. Now the focus is upon integration with the air element for the overall integrated operations.

The Reaper is working with the combat air elements in sharing a common operational picture and to enable those aircraft to have a view of the objective area prior to reaching it and to in turn to be able to enhance their ability to support the overall Marine Corps force being inserted into that objective area.

The XO underscored that MAWTS-1 was working closely with the USAF on Reaper operations and sharing experience and understanding their different operational requirements as well.

He underscored: “Our goal with Reaper operations is to create a common operational picture enabling ground force commanders or maritime component commanders to make real time decisions based on a plethora of information that we’re providing. And we’re also focused on fusing different data links that are coming down from different services together to create that operational picture.”

He went to note that “we see the MQ-9 as a good F-150 or a good reliable truck that can operate at long range and is reliable. But it is the payloads that are crucial to us and are ability to take the data generated by the payloads and use our digitally interoperable systems to distribute the data throughout the MAGTF.”

When he came to MAWTS-1 in 2020, he underscored: “We needed to figure out how to shape an MQ-9 program within the WTI focus of MAWTS-1. Training is a key piece in standing up a new capability and at MAWTS-1, it is about integrated MAGTF capability. We are not training a stand-alone force.”

The XO noted that they reached out to the Air Force to help validate their initial MQ-9 training approach, and now they share lessons learned and share training slots when appropriate. “We are working with the ACC and Headquarters USMC to set up an exchange program to foster the expertise required.”

“Any time I have excess capacity, I will take an Air Force student and make them a WTI. And then they will return to the Air Force community. We have a Marine currently in the Air Force 26 Weapons School training program who will graduate in December. So now we have a WTIs in the Air Force, and we’re going to have USAF weapons school graduates in the Marine Corps who are Marines. And it fosters a lot of TTP development, a lot of great relationships with the Air Force.”

He noted as well that they are tied in with the operational test community via VMX-1. They want to do integrated testing on new sensor suites and to be able to provide user input prior to the decision of what exactly gets produced and acquired.

Personally, I believe that the Marines will need to become major players in autonomous systems – airborne, and surface and below surface systems—but the Reaper is beginning the process. But certainly, the unique integrated mission sets the Marines work through a MAGTF will drive innovation which the joint force needs to note.

Featured Photo: U.S. Marines, assigned to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, and U.S. Air Force Airmen, assigned to the 432nd Wing/432nd Air Expeditionary Wing, pose in front of an MQ-9 Reaper at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, August 23, 2023. The agile combat employment (ACE) exercise known as Agile Hunter saw an Air Force MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft land on Camp Pendleton, a Marine Corps base, for the first time ever. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Ariel O’Shea.

By Robbin Laird

From my first visit to MAWTS-1 with Ed Timperlake to MAWTS-1 to my most recent visit in November 2023, I have been impressed with how focused the team is upon force integration which can be created with real forces, not power points or by wargames or what my friend Ed Timperlake has referred to as “cubical commandos.”

In my discussions with MAWTS-1 in 2020 and then my visit that year, one of the most perceptive of the officers with whom I discussed the challenges facing force integration was LtCol Barron,  ADT&E Department Head at MAWTS-1.

In a 2018 interview with the then head of ADT&E, the department head described their role. According to LtCol Schiller, a key function of ADT&E is to assist in the process of informing future requirements. “It is part of our mission to help requirement officers in Headquarters Marine Corps. We do this by taking items from DARPA, research labs, industry and the PMAs and integrate them into WTI courses. We then provide an after-action report with our assessment on their performance and utility to the force.”

In other words, ADT&E is focused on the core task of fighting today with the current force but also looking forward to how to enhance that force’s capabilities in the near to mid-term as well.

As Barron faces the end of his career with the USMC, I discussed with him what I see as a key challenge facing the U.S. forces, namely, not getting full value out of the systems which they already possess such as an F-35 global force.

I asked him how we could address this shortfall.

LtCol Barron: “I think you’re absolutely right. The problem we face is how do we leverage these unique and disruptive capabilities that America and our coalition partners have, because we’re not getting the full benefit of them.

“And I think the way to maximize the use of the fantastic systems that we have is by further integrating our people.

“I think intelligence, command and control, and fires are the elements that need further integration. And when we think about intelligence, it is, all of our collectors, whether it is a fifth Gen aircraft that does a great job of sensing the environment, all the way down to individual threat sensors we need to be sharing that information to make a combined intelligence picture for our intelligence community, need to feed it through our command-and-control elements.

“And I don’t mean a single command control element, just like everything’s sensing, everything is contributing to command and control architecture, and then enabling the decision makers human on the loop or in the loop, depending on the situation to enable both kinetic and non-kinetic fires.

“That’s very long answer.

“But at the end of it, the thing that I think will enable this is ownership within each community. Ownership that this is our fight, that it’s our responsibility. It’s really easy to say, I’m an attack helicopter pilot, that’s my job, I don’t need to worry about it. It’s hard to say, I’m going to support digital interoperability by passing what I see through a command-and-control architecture to someone who can make a decision. It’s also my job to win. And the way I do that is feed the common operating picture for the decision maker.”

We then addressed the question of building an operational common operational picture and what that really means for a combat force.

LtCol Barron: “We say we want a common operating picture. What is the reality of that? Are we going to all have a single COP? Or are we going to have multiple systems that talk together?

“There’s so many different communities. Within the Marine Corps, you’ve got aviation command and control, you’ve got the ground combat element that has its own systems, you have intelligence cops, and that is just within one service.

“So how do we get everybody on the same picture? Or how do we share that information? It’s, a struggle. That’s where in the near term, I think the rubber hits the road. What’s our common message format?”

He then highlighted a community within the USMC where he thinks such progress is being made.

LtCol Barron: “I think one of the ways ahead is for the communities to want that interoperability. I have found the V 22 community is really on board with their mesh network manager in the back of their aircraft. That community has embraced that airborne gateway.

“And it’s phenomenal. They are medium lift pilots and crews, but if you talk to any one of our students from that community you can have a great conversation about what’s going on in the back of their aircraft with respect to waveform message formats and which antenna is doing which type of transmission. It’s truly remarkable.

“Ownership and improved integration are cost effective force multipliers that dwarf the capability of standalone new systems.”

Featured Photo: U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Paul R. Barron, right, a UH-1Y Venom instructor assigned to Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One (MAWTS-1), inspects cargo to be lifted during Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course (WTI) Course 2-15 near Yuma, Ariz., April 25, 2015.

WTI is a seven-week event hosted by MAWTS-1 cadre. MAWTS-1 provides standardized tactical training and certification of unit instructor qualifications to support Marine aviation Training and Readiness and assists in developing and employing aviation weapons and tactics.

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Jodson B. Graves, 2nd MAW Combat Camera/Released.