ARMY AVIATION Magazine 42 February 29, 2016

S ince our last TCM-RA update, we continue to work to get the

requirements “right” within the Avia-tion attack/recon portfolio. A seem-ingly straight-forward premise, there are many contributing factors that make this fundamental objective more challenging. Factors include continu-ously changing conditions, the result of rapidly evolving threats, competing priorities, and fiscal realities impact-ing both current readiness and future capability development. We focus our efforts linking strategic guidance and doctrine to various requirements docu-ments in order to close gaps in mobil-ity, survivability, and lethality. By doing so, the requirements we codify through the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System ( JCIDS) will remain operationally relevant within our three main lines of effort (LOEs) – weapon/munitions, attack, and re-connaissance capabilities. The end state is to increase Army Aviation’s contri-bution into unified land operations by delivering capabilities (in the form of both material and non-material solu-tions) to more effectively conduct air-ground operations (AGO) consistent with FM 3-04 Army Aviation. We are leveraging opportunities, created by continuously changing con-ditions, to correctly set requirements

within our main 3 LOEs – weapon/munitions, attack, and reconnaissance. Starting with weapons, we are drafting a comprehensive and holistic lethality/munitions strategy that will align efforts across the Aviation enterprise. This is a significant endeavor and we are incor-porating stakeholders throughout U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence

(USAACE), the Army Staff, and re-spective program managers – Joint At-tack Munition Systems ( JAMS), Un-manned Aircraft Systems (UAS), and Apache – aiming toward three ends: 1. Improve lethality against sophisti-cated threat armor including passive and active countermeasures (CM); 2. Provide more air-to-ground weapon options (scalable and tailorable based on targets);3. Right-size the munition mix/inven-tory supported by the Total Army Mu-nition Requirements (TAMR) analysis.

Weapon/Munitions The underpinnings of the lethality/munitions strategy are three-fold: the emerging Aviation training strategy/gunnery qualification standards com-bined with ongoing TAMR analysis forming the ways; and resourcing in the Program Objective Memorandum (POM) and Long-Range Investment Analysis (LIRA) funding documents providing the means. This strategy will balance necessary operational capabili-ties with associated funding, creating trade space and remaining cost neutral within the Aviation portfolio. Addi-tions over the next 3-5 years include both the “Romeo” model Hellfire (R-HF) that effectively combines separate capabilities currently found in several HF variants. Additionally, the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile ( JAGM) will provide a dual-mode seeker (laser and radar guidance) in one missile deliver-ing improved lethality against threat armored systems that are protected with passive and active CM. Stake-holders are working to fully integrate the R-HF and JAGM (Initial Opera-tional Capability in FY19) on both the AH-64E and MQ-1C Gray Eagle. In the short term, we are collaborat-ing to field a limited quantity of laser-guided 2.75” Hydra rockets providing a smaller, precision-guided, complimen-tary capability for use against suitable soft-skin/light targets. Looking ahead to the mid/long term, we will explore possibilities of a Small Guided Muni-tion (SGM) that is both scalable and tailorable. The SGM could potentially provide both a drop glide and forward firing munition with modular seeker (guidance) and programmable warhead sections adding selectable options for Army Aviation to employ from both manned attack/reconnaissance rotary-wing helicopters and unmanned plat-forms. Current JCIDS efforts include the recently updated JAGM Capability Development Document (CDD), the

Special Focus u TRADOC Capability Manager Updates

A team of 1-229 ARB AH-64Es conducts training at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), WA.

If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance

even less. – General Eric K. Shinseki, former

Chief of Staff, U.S. Army

Working to Get Requirements Right

By COL Jeffrey W. White

U.S.

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TRADOC Capability Manager forReconnaissance & Attack (TCM-RA)

ARMY AVIATION Magazine 43 February 29, 2016

initial drafting of the JAGM Capabil-ity Production Document (CPD), and revising/updating the 2005 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APK-WS) Operational Requirements Docu-ment (ORD) to ensure we capture all current required weapons/munitions capabilities, contingent on senior lead-er approval of this strategy. Attack Shifting to the attack LOE, the AH-64E Version 6 (v6) is the final set of capability insertions completing E-model production. Material devel-opers and industry partners are sched-uled to field the AH-64E v6 to the operational force beginning in FY19. This latest attack helicopter variant adds critical capabilities identified as threshold requirements in the AH-64E v6 Capability Production Docu-ment (CPD). Capabilities include sen-sor, mission command, weapon, and aircraft performance enhancements. The AH-64E v6 leverages technology improvements, addresses obsolescence issues in older AH-64D/E versions, and enables Army Aviation to conduct doctrinal attack, reconnaissance, move-ment to contact, and security missions across the full spectrum of military operations. Additionally, AH-64E v6 equipped units enhance the ability to execute Joint Combined Arms Opera-tions, supporting commanders across multiple domains (land, air, and sea). Consistent with strategic guidance, doctrine, and the Aviation Restructur-ing Initiative (ARI), the AH-64E v6 delivers capabilities to perform across multiple domains while mitigating the armed reconnaissance gap created as the Army divests all OH-58D Ki-owa Warriors. Teamed with UAS, the AH-64E v6 will greatly improve the ability resident in each Attack/Recon-naissance Battalion (ARB) and Heavy-Attack Reconnaissance Squadron (H-ARS) to conduct Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T). The AH-64E v6 will be capable of leveraging Army and Joint assets to acquire, positively iden-tify (PID), and facilitate clearance of fires to execute missions either autono-mously (on-board sensors and weap-ons) or employ MUM-T (integrated maneuver with UAS) – further increas-ing the ability to develop the situation, gain/maintain enemy contact, while enhancing survivability, fires, and mis-sion command. These capabilities are essential to maintain an asymmetric

advantage over increasingly more capa-ble threats by maintaining overmatch and functioning as part of the Army Operating Concept (AOC). The AH-64E will continue to be an essential part of Army Aviation, providing core attack and reconnaissance capabilities through the long-term.

Reconnaissance Finally as part of the Recon LOE, we continue to support the divestiture of all OH-58 variants while exploring options to mitigate the validated aerial reconnaissance and security gap. OH-58 A/C/D divestiture will continue through FY19 as we work to synchro-nize fielding of AH-64E and MQ-1C as part of each ARB along with AH-64E and RQ-7B Shadows resident in each H-ARS as described in FM 3-04. We remain partnered with Future Verti-cal Lift (FVL) stakeholders to validate and prioritize necessary armed recon-naissance rotary-wing attributes. These attributes will guide various efforts – including modeling, simulation, and Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) studies – as we develop/update necessary require-ments documents to accurately describe required capabilities for both material and non-material solutions. TCM-RA, in concert with members of the Aviation Enterprise, focuses ef-forts on getting the attack/reconnais-sance and supporting system require-ments right. This is a collaborative process involving stakeholders in the operational force, institutional Army, material developers, and industry part-ners alike. Our methodology involves linking strategic guidance and doctrine to developing operationally relevant requirements while considering ad-ditional factors such as continuously changing threat, budgetary, and op-erational environment conditions. This process is complicated but essential to deliver the right weapon/munition, at-tack, and reconnaissance capabilities now and in the future. By doing so, Army Aviation will remain an enabler of unified land operations, capable of conducting effective AGO, adding to the legacy of our Branch by continuing to provide crucial aviation support to those in need.

COL Jeffrey W. White is the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Ca-pability Manager for Reconnaissance and Attack, with the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, AL.

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