ARMY AVIATION Magazine 46 February 28, 2015

TRADOC Capability Manager for Reconnaissance and Attack (TCM-RA)

Aligning With Strategic Guidance and Focusing on Aviation Branch Priorities By COL Jeffrey W. White

“The Army Operating Concept is the start point for developing the future force…the tenant of innovation challenges us to anticipate changing conditions to ensure that Army forces are manned, trained, and equipped, to overmatch enemies in order to seize, retain, and exploit the initiative.”

– GEN David G. Perkins

As the TCM-RA, we are chartered by the TRADOC Commanding General to manage manned reconnaissance and attack aircraft requirements and capabili-ties. As such, we organize our directorate to focus on three primary lines of opera-tion: attack, reconnaissance, and weapons in order to develop and/or refine require-ments nested with current strategic guid-ance and aligned with Aviation Branch priorities. As requirement developers, our other additional responsibilities are to maintain open lines of communica-

tion with a wide variety of stakeholders throughout the Aviation Enterprise in-cluding program managers (PMs), op-erational units, industry partners, appro-priate staff sections in HQDA, the Joint Staff, and OSD. Maintaining open com-munication is an important part of our responsibility to facilitate the fielding of recon and attack capabilities synchronized across doctrine, organization, training, material, leader development, personnel, and facilities (DOTMLPF) framework. Our current priorities of effort within TCM-RA support the Aviation Restruc-turing Initiative (ARI) and the recently released U.S. Army Operating Concept: Win in a Complex World as described in TRADOC Pamphlet 525-3-1.

Apache Impacts Both the Army Operating Concept and evolving guidance shaping current ARI efforts serve as the basis of TCM-RA ini-

tiatives. Current TCM-RA initiatives are focused on modernization of the AH-64D Apache fleet by way of significant upgrades, creating the newest Army attack aircraft, the AH-64E. AH-64E equipped units will afford supported commanders executing joint combined arms opera-tions a greater ability to operate decisively across the full spectrum of operations in every domain. We are collectively pursu-ing increased capabilities to expand on the success of the AH-64A/D programs, upgrading the entire Apache fleet to the latest E-model as an integral part of ARI. The AH-64E program, which started delivering Lot 1 aircraft in 2011 and is scheduled to complete fielding a total of 690 E-models by 2026, includes sig-

SPECIAL FOCUS uTRADOC Capability Manager Updates

A 1st Battalion (Attack Reconnaisance), 229th Aviation Regiment (first unit-equipped) AH-64E returns from a training flight at Joint Base Lewis McChord, WA.

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ARMY AVIATION Magazine 47 February 28, 2015

nificant improvements in flight perfor-mance – combining an improved drive system, composite main rotor blades, and enhanced fuel controls with T700-701D engines. In addition to full Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) certification, AH-64E aircraft leverage an aircraft open system architecture (OSA) to incorporate soft-ware upgrades and increased computer processing necessary for integrating com-munication, weapon, sensor, and sustain-ment enhancements into the aircraft. Some of these system enhancements in-clude integration of Small Airborne Link 16 Terminal (SALT), System Level Em-bedded Diagnostics (SLED), Fire Control Radar (FCR) improvements, moderniza-tion of the Radar Frequency Interfer-ometer (M-RFI), Day Sensor Assembly (M-DSA), and Cognitive Decision Aid-ing System (CDAS) to name a few of the AH-64E upgrades. In addition to upgrad-ing the Apache fleet, the Army will divest all OH-58 aircraft as part of ARI.

OH-58 and TH-67 Another key component of ARI is to divest all OH-58 and TH-67 aircraft (in-cluding OH-58D Kiowa Warriors) in or-der to reduce operating and sustainment costs. The divestiture of these aircraft is ongoing and will continue through at least 2019. The loss of Kiowa Warriors from both the Active and Reserve Components will increase an armed reconnaissance ca-pability gap that exists in the Army. With-in Army Aviation, we will mitigate risks associated with this gap through the mid-term with manned-unmanned teaming (MUMT) coupled with re-organization of force structure in each combat avia-tion brigade (CAB) to align manned and unmanned units. MUMT combines in-herent capabilities of AH-64D/E aircraft operating simultaneously with unmanned

aircraft systems (UAS), most notably the Army RQ-7 Shadow and MQ1-C Gray Eagle. There are limited MUMT capa-bilities that already exist in both AH-64D and AH-64E equipped units with several fielded systems. The eventual goal is to field one MUMT system integrated in the entire AH-64E fleet capable of Level of In-teroperability (LOI) 2 control (receipt of full motion video/data) on C/L/S bands and LOI 4 control (direct control of UAS payload and route of flight) on Ku/TCDL band. We will not only focus on the ma-terial solution but add emphasis to train-ing, doctrine, leader development, and more robust simulation devices as part of a long-term comprehensive MUMT strate-gy. The ongoing Future Vertical Lift (FVL) attribute study will guide future armed re-connaissance requirements.

FVL While divesting OH-58A/C, Kiowa Warriors, and TH-67 aircraft in the Army as part of ARI, we are participating in an ongoing Future Vertical Lift (FVL) attribute study to guide the eventual de-velopment of a next generation armed re-connaissance aircraft. The FVL attribute study will highlight the combination of attributes suitable to best enable armed reconnaissance in 2025 and beyond guid-ed by the Army Operating Concept. Once these attributes are identified as a prod-uct of the FVL study, we will prioritize and develop requirement documents to guide our material developer and industry partners in long-term efforts (beyond 20 years) to produce a capable and affordable armed reconnaissance aircraft. This study will form the foundation for induction of these requirement documents in the Joint Capabilities Integration and Develop-ment System (JCIDS) process. The third TCM-RA line of operation is weapons.

Weapons We are working with stakeholders to upgrade Aviation weapons including the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) and Small Guided Munitions (SGMs). These efforts are focused on increasing lethality, countering escalating threat capabilities, addressing legacy weapon stockpile reli-ability issues, and adding complimen-tary capabilities to existing Hellfire (HF) and unguided rocket suite of munitions. Amongst other features, JAGM will add a dual-mode seeker, combining both semi-active laser (SAL) and millimeter wave (MMW) capabilities in each mis-sile. JAGM is specifically designed to de-feat more sophisticated traditional armor threats and advancing threat countermea-sures while enhancing abilities to destroy emerging non-traditional threats (littoral/fast attack boats and counter-UAS) and targets in adverse weather/poor visibility. In addition to JAGM, we are working closely with stakeholders to field a lim-ited quantity of precision-guided rockets in order to satisfy deployed units specific operational needs. We are developing a training support package (TSP) includ-ing recommended tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) as part of this limited, short-term precision-guided rocket fielding. In the long-term, we will incorporate observations, insights, and lessons learned as we develop a compre-hensive SGM strategy that will then in turn inform future requirements for this complimentary capability. As we strive to develop our future force, our Army continues to overcome numerous challenges in order to ac-complish our many missions. As GEN Perkins alluded to in the Army Operat-ing Concept, the future “environment the Army will operate in is unknown.” The future will not only be complex but full of opportunities that our most precious resource – our Soldiers – will continue to work to our advantage. Undoubted-ly Army Aviation will continue to play a vital role, adding to the legacy of our Branch as we collectively develop ho-listic approaches to harness technology and expand attack, reconnaissance, and weapon capabilities for employment in an increasingly challenging operational environment now and in the future.

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

Team Apache in front of two Lot 4 AH-64Es used for Follow-On Test and Evaluation (FOT&E) in AUG 2014 at Eglin AFB, FL.

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